Intentions to Marry, 1863

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840375, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 4 2024

Page 303

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1863 Registrar Charles Traill

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 1863

John Thomas Evans
Emma Shacklock

John Thomas Evans
Emma Shacklock
💍 1863/5894

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

Mr Gifford's House, Oamaru

917

24 July 1863

Rev. Algernon Gifford

No	32
Date of Notice	24 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Evans	Emma Shacklock
	💍 1863/5894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Mr Gifford's House, Oamaru
Folio	917
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. Algernon Gifford

1 August 1863

Johann Harman Bruikar
Barbara Marshall

Johann Harman Brinker
Barbara Marshall
💍 1863/4334

Bachelor
Spinster

Ship Carpenter

32
22

Mr Dansy's Station, Waitaki
do

4 months
2 months

Court House, Oamaru

1397

1 August 1863

Rev. Algernon Gifford

No	33
Date of Notice	1 August 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Johann Harman Bruikar	Barbara Marshall
BDM Match (93%)	Johann Harman Brinker	Barbara Marshall
	💍 1863/4334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ship Carpenter
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Mr Dansy's Station, Waitaki	do
Length of Residence	4 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Court House, Oamaru
Folio	1397
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. Algernon Gifford

7 August 1863

John Young Ward
Caroline Mathilda Dousberry

John Young Ward
Caroline Matilda Dousbery
💍 1863/4296

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
20

Oamaru
do

2 years
18 months

Mr Wards House, Oamaru

1405

7 August 1863

Rev. Algernon Gifford

No	34
Date of Notice	7 August 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Young Ward	Caroline Mathilda Dousberry
BDM Match (96%)	John Young Ward	Caroline Matilda Dousbery
	💍 1863/4296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	do
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Mr Wards House, Oamaru
Folio	1405
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. Algernon Gifford

24 August 1863

Enoch Jones
Catherine Elizabeth Hendry

Enoch Jones
Catherine Elizabeth Hendry
💍 1863/4266

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

25
17

Mr. Myers Station, Waitangi, Canterbury
Kurow, Waitaki

16 months
4 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

1410

Robert Hendry, father

24 August 1863

Charles Traill, Regr.

No	35
Date of Notice	24 August 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Enoch Jones	Catherine Elizabeth Hendry
	💍 1863/4266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Mr. Myers Station, Waitangi, Canterbury	Kurow, Waitaki
Length of Residence	16 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
Folio	1410
Consent	Robert Hendry, father
Date of Certificate	24 August 1863
Officiating Minister	Charles Traill, Regr.

26 August 1863

Daniel Haylock
Elizabeth Ann Tanner

Daniel Haylock
Elizabeth Ann Tanner
💍 1863/5735

Bachelor
Spinster

Drayman

24
16

Oamaru
do

2 years
1 year

Mr Lemon's House, presently occupied by Mrs Williams, Oamaru

864

Eliza Williams (formerly Tanner), mother

26 August 1863

Rev. Algernon Gifford

No	36
Date of Notice	26 August 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Haylock	Elizabeth Ann Tanner
	💍 1863/5735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drayman
Age	24	16
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	do
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Mr Lemon's House, presently occupied by Mrs Williams, Oamaru
Folio	864
Consent	Eliza Williams (formerly Tanner), mother
Date of Certificate	26 August 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. Algernon Gifford

7 September 1863

Thomas Riddell
Margaret Bell

Thomas Riddell
Margaret Bell
💍 1863/4344

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

34
24

Totara Station, near Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
1 year

Mr Weavers House, Oamaru

1380

7 September 1863

Rev. Algernon Gifford

No	37
Date of Notice	7 September 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Riddell	Margaret Bell
	💍 1863/4344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Totara Station, near Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Mr Weavers House, Oamaru
Folio	1380
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. Algernon Gifford

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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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.

Can I volunteer to help?

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

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

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).