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 3572

District of Otautau Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar W. W. Vappes

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

1 October 1926

Gilbert Foxley Galt
Flora McNaughton

Gilbert Loxley Galt
Flora McNaughton
💍 1926/9341

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

22
19

Thornbury
Orawia

2 years
19 years

Presbyterian Church, Riverton

10669

Neil McNaughton, father

1 October 1926

Rev. R. Taylor, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	1 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Foxley Galt	Flora McNaughton
BDM Match (97%)	Gilbert Loxley Galt	Flora McNaughton
	💍 1926/9341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Thornbury	Orawia
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Riverton
Folio	10669
Consent	Neil McNaughton, father
Date of Certificate	1 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Taylor, Presbyterian

4 November 1926

William Henry Sadlier
Jean Glenburn Fisher

William Henry Sadlier
Jean Glenburn Fisher
💍 1926/9343

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Domestic

31
25

Otautau
Otautau

2 years
25 years

Residence of Mr. John Fisher, Otautau

10670

4 November 1926

Rev. J. B. Bickerstaff, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	4 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Sadlier	Jean Glenburn Fisher
	💍 1926/9343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Domestic
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Otautau	Otautau
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Fisher, Otautau
Folio	10670
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Bickerstaff, Presbyterian

12 November 1926

James Louis Winchester
Jessie Dixon

James Louis Winchester
Jessie Dixon
💍 1926/9344

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

21
19

Nightcaps
Nightcaps

3 years
19 years

Presbyterian manse, Nightcaps

10671

Annie Boyd Dixon, mother

12 November 1926

Rev. R. C. Boyd, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	12 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Louis Winchester	Jessie Dixon
	💍 1926/9344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Nightcaps
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian manse, Nightcaps
Folio	10671
Consent	Annie Boyd Dixon, mother
Date of Certificate	12 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. C. Boyd, Presbyterian

18 November 1926

Andrew Laidlaw
Catherine Jane Muir

Andrew Laidlaw
Catherine Jane Muir
💍 1926/9345

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Domestic

23
23

Nightcaps
Waikouro

10 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Wreys Bush

10672

18 November 1926

Rev. Father Lynch

No	22
Date of Notice	18 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Laidlaw	Catherine Jane Muir
	💍 1926/9345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Waikouro
Length of Residence	10 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Wreys Bush
Folio	10672
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Lynch

19 November 1926

John Henry Snow
Lucy Ann Newton

John Henry Snow
Lucy Ann Newton
💍 1926/9346

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

40
27

Dipton
Aparima

40 years
27 years

Methodist Church, Aparima

10673

19 November 1926

Rev. C. Ayston

No	23
Date of Notice	19 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Snow	Lucy Ann Newton
	💍 1926/9346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	40	27
Dwelling Place	Dipton	Aparima
Length of Residence	40 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Aparima
Folio	10673
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Ayston

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).