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 3357

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar E. Dollimore

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

9 January 1926

Daniel Chapman Connor
Catherine McKenzie

Daniel Chapman Connor
Catherine McKenzie
💍 1926/1343

Widower
Spinster

Ironmoulder
Housekeeper

40
41

Port Chalmers
Ravensbourne

4 days
2 years

Congregational Manse, Port Chalmers

2748

9 January 1926

Rev. N. H. Finch, Congregational Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	9 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Chapman Connor	Catherine McKenzie
	💍 1926/1343
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Ironmoulder	Housekeeper
Age	40	41
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Ravensbourne
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Manse, Port Chalmers
Folio	2748
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. H. Finch, Congregational Minister

19 January 1926

Herbert Laurence Lewis
Eileen Grace Sprott

Herbert Lawrence Lewis
Eileen Grace Sprott
💍 1926/1344

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic Duties

23
21

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

Lifetime
3 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Port Chalmers

2749

19 January 1926

James Bruce Davis, Deputy Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Laurence Lewis	Eileen Grace Sprott
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Lawrence Lewis	Eileen Grace Sprott
	💍 1926/1344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	Lifetime	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Port Chalmers
Folio	2749
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1926
Officiating Minister	James Bruce Davis, Deputy Registrar

26 January 1926

Walter Reynolds Sanders
Ruby Emma Moore

Walter Reynolds Sanders
Ruby Emma Moore
💍 1926/1345

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

26
21

Sawyers Bay, Port Chalmers
Sawyers Bay, Dunedin

Lifetime
2 weeks

Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers

2750

26 January 1926

Rev. W. H. Roberts, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	26 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Reynolds Sanders	Ruby Emma Moore
	💍 1926/1345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay, Port Chalmers	Sawyers Bay, Dunedin
Length of Residence	Lifetime	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	2750
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Roberts, Church of England

9 February 1926

James Walden Wilson
Winifred Helen Ethel Machell Roberts

James Walden Wilson
Winifred Helen Machell Roberts
💍 1926/2251

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic Duties

29
24

Port Chalmers, Auckland
Port Chalmers, Auckland

2 days
4 months

Church of England, Port Chalmers

2751

9 February 1926

Rev. W. H. Roberts, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	9 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Walden Wilson	Winifred Helen Ethel Machell Roberts
BDM Match (92%)	James Walden Wilson	Winifred Helen Machell Roberts
	💍 1926/2251
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers, Auckland	Port Chalmers, Auckland
Length of Residence	2 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Port Chalmers
Folio	2751
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Roberts, Church of England

27 February 1926

Frederick Charles Gibbs
Florence Elizabeth Penty

Frederick Charles Gibbs
Florence Elizabeth Penty
💍 1926/2262

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic Duties

26
20

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers, Kaitorai, Dunedin South

6 years
Lifetime

Residence, George Street, Port Chalmers

2752

John Penty, Father

27 February 1926

Rev. C. B. Jordan, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	27 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Gibbs	Florence Elizabeth Penty
	💍 1926/2262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers, Kaitorai, Dunedin South
Length of Residence	6 years	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Residence, George Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	2752
Consent	John Penty, Father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. B. Jordan, Methodist

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).