Intentions to Marry, 1877

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840389, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 717

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1877 Registrar B. G. Gilbert

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
603	03 October 1877	Alexander Milne Copeland Margaret Munro	Alex Milne Copland Margaret Munro 💍 1877/2713	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	32 26	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 3 years	The Residence of Mr James Munro	77/2722		03 October 1877	Rev. A. B. Todd
604	04 October 1877	Mathew Thomas Eliza Thomas	Matthew Thomas Eliza Thomas 💍 1877/2712	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Domestic Servant	39 20	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 3 days	Wesley Church	77/2721		04 October 1877	Rev John Armitage
605	12 October 1877	Michael Donovan Alice Kelly	Michael Donovan Alice Kelly 💍 1877/2748	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	29 20	Oamaru Oamaru	19 months 12 months	St. Patrick's Church	77/2733		12 October 1877	Rev William Coleman
606	22 October 1877	John George Brooker Honora Collins	John George Brooker Honora Collins 💍 1877/2974	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman Domestic Servant	20 18	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 12 months	St Luke's Church	77/2961	John Brooker father	22 October 1877	Rev Algernon Gifford
607	24 October 1877	James Mitchell Mary Challis	James Mitchell Margaret Paton Dampster 💍 1877/1170 John Mitchell Mary Lawson 💍 1877/65	Widower Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	35 27	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 2 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
608	26 October 1877	Alexander Orr Elizabeth Porteous	Alexander Orr Elizabeth Porteous 💍 1877/2714	Bachelor Spinster	Baker General Servant	27 20	Seanerake Oamaru	20 months 2 years	Residence of Robert Porteous, South	77/2423	Robert Porteous father	28 October 1877	Rev A. B. Todd
609	10 November 1877	John McLaughlin Annie Currie	John McLaughlin Annie Currie 💍 1877/2749	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	21 19	Oamaru Oamaru	6 weeks 1 month	St Patrick's Church	77/2434		10 November 1877	Rev William Coleman
610	10 November 1877	William Vincent Elizabeth Gordon	William Vincent Elizabeth Gordon 💍 1877/2730	Bachelor Spinster	Drayman Domestic Servant	31 30	Oamaru Oamaru	5 years 3 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru	77/2439		10 November 1877	B. G. Gilbert, Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
611	12 November 1877	Thomas Curlin Henrietta Louisa Wilson	Thomas Curline Henrietta Louisa Milson 💍 1877/2751	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Manufacturer Dressmaker	22 21	Oamaru Oamaru	7 years 4 years	Residence of Mr Wilson, Chase in Bros's Lane	77/2436		12 November 1877	Rev John Armitage
612	19 November 1877	Edward Rowland Ellen Susan Spratt	Edward Rowland Ellen Susan Spratt 💍 1877/2817	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	42 20	Oamaru Dunedin	15 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages at Dunedin	77/2432		19 November 1877	Registrar of Marriages at Dunedin
613	20 November 1877	John Warmood Tolith Gribben	John Warwood Edith Gribben 💍 1877/2750	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 21	Awamoko Awamoko	6 months 6 months	Residence of Mr Gribben at Awamoko	77/2435		20 November 1877	Rev John Steven
614	20 November 1877	Archibald Graham Kate Lyons	Archibald Graham Kate Lyons 💍 1877/2729	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 30	certificate issued Oamaru	7 weeks	Residence of Miss Lyons in Eve Street - Oamaru

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 1899. 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).