Intentions to Marry, 1926 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840543, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1926h contains pages 3199-3612, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3329

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar Chal. James

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

20 November 1926

Erich Anton Ferdinand Garchow
Alice Ida Wilkins

Erich Anton Ferdinand Garchow
Alice Ida Wilkins
💍 1926/9236

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercer & Clothier
Saleswoman

36
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 week
5 years

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

10539

20 November 1926

Rev. W. McLean, Presbyterian

No	70
Date of Notice	20 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Erich Anton Ferdinand Garchow	Alice Ida Wilkins
	💍 1926/9236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercer & Clothier	Saleswoman
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 week	5 years
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	10539
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McLean, Presbyterian

25 November 1926

Victor Wilfred Ross
Margaret Ethel Cunningham

Victor McLeod Ross
Margaret Ethel Cunningham
💍 1926/9237

Widower
Widow

Fat Stock Buyer
Domestic Duties

45
45

Oamaru
Oamaru

14 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church, Papakaio

10540

25 November 1926

Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

No	71
Date of Notice	25 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Wilfred Ross	Margaret Ethel Cunningham
BDM Match (84%)	Victor McLeod Ross	Margaret Ethel Cunningham
	💍 1926/9237
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Fat Stock Buyer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	45
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	14 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Papakaio
Folio	10540
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Hannah, Presbyterian

30 November 1926

Roydon Frisby
Elizabeth May Hastie

Royden Frisby
Elizabeth May Hastie
💍 1926/9238

Bachelor
Spinster

Drainage and Waterworks Foreman
Dressmaker

29
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
10 months

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

10541

30 November 1926

Rev. W. McLean, Presbyterian

No	72
Date of Notice	30 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roydon Frisby	Elizabeth May Hastie
BDM Match (96%)	Royden Frisby	Elizabeth May Hastie
	💍 1926/9238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drainage and Waterworks Foreman	Dressmaker
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	10541
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McLean, Presbyterian

2 December 1926

John Patrick McBorker
Lilian Hock

John Patrick McCosker
Lilian Hock
💍 1926/9452

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Hotel Worker

37
21

Oamaru
Sawai

2 months
3 months

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

10735

2 December 1926

Rev. J. J. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	73
Date of Notice	2 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Patrick McBorker	Lilian Hock
BDM Match (95%)	John Patrick McCosker	Lilian Hock
	💍 1926/9452
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Hotel Worker
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Sawai
Length of Residence	2 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	10735
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

6 December 1926

William Barku Appleby
Florence May Hollands

William Barker Appleby
Florence May Hollands
💍 1927/4546

Bachelor
Spinster

Garage Proprietor
Domestic Duties

27
22

Kurow
Alma

11 years
11 years

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

1054

6 December 1926

Ven. Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Church of England

No	74
Date of Notice	6 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Barku Appleby	Florence May Hollands
BDM Match (95%)	William Barker Appleby	Florence May Hollands
	💍 1927/4546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Garage Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Kurow	Alma
Length of Residence	11 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	1054
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon J. D. Russell, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).