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 3324

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1926 Registrar Chas. L. 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

24 July 1926

George Henry Wallinger
Isabel Redditt

George Henry Wallinger
Mabel Redditt
💍 1926/9826

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
31

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 years
31 years

Residence of Isabel Redditt, 36 Itchen Street, Oamaru

7826

24 July 1926

Captain C. Reeve, Salvation Army

No	49
Date of Notice	24 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Wallinger	Isabel Redditt
BDM Match (93%)	George Henry Wallinger	Mabel Redditt
	💍 1926/9826
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Isabel Redditt, 36 Itchen Street, Oamaru
Folio	7826
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Captain C. Reeve, Salvation Army

24 July 1926

Thomas Barrett
Mary Jane Wallace

Thomas Barrett
Mary Jane Wallace
💍 1926/9837

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
49

Waimate
Oamaru

49 years
49 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

7827

24 July 1926

Rev. A. Fenelon, Roman Catholic

No	50
Date of Notice	24 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Barrett	Mary Jane Wallace
	💍 1926/9837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	49
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Oamaru
Length of Residence	49 years	49 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	7827
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Fenelon, Roman Catholic

29 July 1926

Stanley Claude Chittleburgh
Ellen Eliza Williams

Stanley Claude Chettleburgh
Ellen Eliza Williams
💍 1926/9844

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic Duties

30
26

Kurow
Oamaru

26 years
26 years

Church of England, Newborough, Oamaru

7828

29 July 1926

Rev. D. Jamieson, Church of England

No	51
Date of Notice	29 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Claude Chittleburgh	Ellen Eliza Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley Claude Chettleburgh	Ellen Eliza Williams
	💍 1926/9844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Kurow	Oamaru
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Newborough, Oamaru
Folio	7828
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Jamieson, Church of England

3 August 1926

John Ensdale Gibson
Jessie Marion Campbell

John Easdale Gibson
Jessie Marion Campbell
💍 1926/9845

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
24

Oamaru
Hampden

3 days
3 days

St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

7829

3 August 1926

Rev. P. G. Rennie, Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	3 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ensdale Gibson	Jessie Marion Campbell
BDM Match (97%)	John Easdale Gibson	Jessie Marion Campbell
	💍 1926/9845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Hampden
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	7829
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Rennie, Presbyterian

17 August 1926

Wilfred Osborne Richardson
Marion Hellen Falconer

Wilfred Osborne Richardson
Marion Hellen Falconer
💍 1926/9846

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic Duties

25
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 weeks
5 weeks

Salvation Army Hall, 5 Thames Street, Oamaru

7830

17 August 1926

Captain C. Reeve, Salvation Army

No	53
Date of Notice	17 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Osborne Richardson	Marion Hellen Falconer
	💍 1926/9846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, 5 Thames Street, Oamaru
Folio	7830
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Captain C. Reeve, Salvation Army

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).