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 738

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 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
526	11 August 1876	James Carnegy Jessie Smith	James Carnegy Jessie Smith 💍 1876/1996	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	29 29	Oamaru Papakaio	3 years 5 years	The Residence of Mr James Borne at Papakaio	76/2058		11 August 1876	Revd John Steven
527	13 August 1876	Francis Easterby Waterworth Janet McLaren	Francis Easterly Waterworth Janet McLaren 💍 1876/2009	Widower Spinster	Wheelwright Servant	30 25	Oamaru Oamaru	6 years 1 year	The Residence of Francis Easterby Waterworth, Eden Street Oamaru	76/2040		13 August 1876	Revd John Armitage
528	15 August 1876	James Coull Jane Hannah	James Coull Jane Hannah 💍 1876/2016	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Nursemaid	25 17	Hakanui North Oamaru	4 weeks 3 days	The Manse Oamaru	76/2054	Hugh McClymont, Guardian	15 August 1876	Revd A. B. Todd
529	15 August 1876	Stephen Joseph Bradbury Isabella Lambert McLaren	Stephen Joseph Bradbury Isabella Lambert McLaren 💍 1876/2005	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	31 19	Oamaru Oamaru	11 years 11 months	St Luke's Church Oamaru	76/2066	Janet McLaren, Mother	15 August 1876	Revd Algernon Gifford
530	21 August 1876	John Jennings Susan Morris	John Jennings Susan Morris 💍 1876/2010	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Domestic Servant	26 22	Oamaru Oamaru	7 years 2 years	The Residence of Mr Galbraith in Reed Street Oamaru	76/2041		21 August 1876	Revd John Armitage
531	26 August 1876	Thomas Russell Janet Petrie	Thomas Russell Janet Petrie 💍 1876/2017	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic Servant	34 21	Oamaru Oamaru	9 years 9 months	In the house of Mr. McPhie, Thames Street Oamaru	76/2055		26 August 1876	Revd A. B. Todd
532	29 August 1876	Alexander Wylie White Martha Kerr	Alexander Wylie White Martha Kerr 💍 1876/1997	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Dressmaker	28 25	Waiareka Papakaio	1 year 6 months	The Manse, Papakaio	76/2039		29 August 1876	Revd John Steven
533	8 September 1876	James Vining Annie Miller	James Vining Annie Miller 💍 1876/2143	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Proprietor Dress Maker	28 28	Waimate Oamaru	1 month 1 month	The Residence of Mr George Gaudin, Eden Street Oamaru	76/2042		8 September 1876	Revd John Armitage

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).