Intentions to Marry, 1876

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840388, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

A few of the pages are missing.

Page 735

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1876

No	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
508	25 May 1876	Francis Robert Cluskey Margaret Jane Kiely	Francis Robert McClaskey Margaret Jane Riely 💍 1876/964	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Machinist	21 21	Oamaru Oamaru	13 months 13 months	The Residence of [illegible] Quarrie, Reed Street Oamaru	76/1037		25 May 1876	Revd A. B. Todd, Pres
509	26 May 1876	Henry Callaghan Bridget Boyle	Henry Callaghan Bridget Boyle 💍 1876/977	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	28 25	Oamaru Oamaru	20 months 20 months	St Patricks Church, Oamaru	76/1036		26 May 1876	Revd Jeremiah Donovan, RC
510	27 May 1876	Robert Currie Frances Matilda Kear	Robert Currie Frances Matilda Kear 💍 1876/959	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	37 16	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 5 years	The Residence of Mr Isaac Kear, Mersey Street, Oamaru	76/1032	Isaac Kear (Father)	27 May 1876	Revd John Armitage, Pres
511	7 June 1876	David Clunie Elizabeth Heayes	David Clunie Elizabeth Hayes 💍 1876/960	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	29 21	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 3 years	The Residence of Mr Wm McLeod, Thames St, Oamaru	76/1033		7 June 1876	Revd John Armitage, Pres
512	9 June 1876	John McMillan Margaret Biggar	John McMillan Margaret Biggar 💍 1876/963	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nursemaid	29 21	Fortification Totara	6 years 2 years	The Manse, Oamaru	76/1036		9 June 1876	Revd A. B. Todd, Pres
513	12 June 1876	Robert Lindsay Isabella Glass	Robert Lindsay Isabella Glup 💍 1876/1994	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	24 23	Oamaru Oamaru	8 months 2 months	The Manse, Oamaru	76/2056		12 June 1876	Revd A. B. Todd, Pres
514	13 June 1876	John Duncan Gibb Rachel Littlejohn	John Duncan Gibb Rachel Littlejohn 💍 1876/962	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Domestic Servant	25 22	Oamaru Oamaru	3 months 10 months	The residence of Mr John Sinclair in Coln street, Oamaru	76/1035		13 June 1876	Revd A. B. Todd, Pres
515	17 June 1876	Adam Kerse Margaret Welsh	Adam Kerse Margaret Welsh 💍 1876/956	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	25 22	Oamaru Oamaru	3 months 6 days	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru	76/1029		17 June 1876	W. J. Filleul (Registrar)
516	19 June 1876	David Murray Ann Macfarlane	David Murray Ann McFarland 💍 1876/961	Bachelor Spinster	Boatman Cook	27 22	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 18 months	The residence of David Murray, Tyne Street, Oamaru	76/1034		19 June 1876	Revd A. B. Todd, Pres

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).