Intentions to Marry, 1878

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840390, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, March 5 2025

Page 0811

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1878

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
626	2 January 1878	William Harrison Agnes Neelson	William Harrison Agnes Neilson 💍 1878/539	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 22	Greymouth Greymouth	10 years 10 years	The Residence of Mr Nelson, Papakaio	78/520		2 January 1878	Rev. John Steven
627	2 January 1878	William Michael Angelo Jones Ellen Griffin	William Michael Angelo Jones Ellen Griffin 💍 1878/657	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 22	Oamaru Oamaru	10 months 8 months	Residence of Mrs. Parsons in Wharf Street, Oamaru	78/642		2 January 1878	Rev. John Armitage
628	16 January 1878	Thomas Gormaly Mary Grailish	Thomas Gormaly Mary Grailish 💍 1878/2964	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 25	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 2 years	St Patricks Church, Oamaru	78/2985		16 January 1878	Rev. W. Coleman
629	22 January 1878	Frank Dunlop Agnes Caldwell	Frank Dunlop Agnes Caldwell 💍 1878/748	Widower Spinster	Grain Merchant	41	Oamaru Oamaru	2 years	The Residence of Mr. James Hinstey, Hampden	78/757		22 January 1878	Rev. James Baird
630	24 January 1878	Thomas Falconer Bridget Sheahon	Thomas Falconer Bridget Sheahon 💍 1878/542	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Cook	28 20	Oamaru Oamaru	5 years 2.5 years	The Manse	78/623		24 January 1878	Rev. A. B. Todd
631	26 January 1878	George Norton Sarah Jane Meredith	George Norton Sarah Jane Meredith 💍 1878/624	Widower Spinster	Gardener Cook	43 30	Oamaru Oamaru	2 months 2 months	The Manse	78/632		26 January 1878	Rev. A. B. Todd
632	28 January 1878	George Aitkenhead Elizabeth Atkinson	George Aitkenhead Elizabeth Atkinson 💍 1878/626 George Traill Elizabeth Atkinson 💍 1878/2807 Joseph Genet Elizabeth Atkinson 💍 1878/2144	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	31 23	Awamoa Oamaru	4 years 6 months	The Manse	78/634		28 January 1878	Rev. A. B. Todd
633	28 January 1878	John Ireland Agnes McMustrie	John Ireland Agnes McMurtrie 💍 1878/625	Widower Spinster	Grocer	35 20	Oamaru Oamaru	8 years 6 years	At the residence of Mrs McMustrie in Oamaru	78/633	Agnes McMustrie, mother	28 January 1878	Rev. A. B. Todd
634	28 January 1878	Edmond Bellamy Florrie Kroning	Edward Bellamy Elvine Kroning 💍 1878/560	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith House Maid	26 19	Oamaru Oamaru	2 years 1 year	St Pauls Church, Oamaru	78/635	[illegible] father	4 February 1878	Rev. W. Coleman
635	4 February 1878	Adam Flemming Margaret Dempsey	Adam Plennes Margaret Dempsey 💍 1878/2965	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Servant	39 34	Oamaru Oamaru	8 days 4 weeks	The Residence of Rev. W. Coleman	78/2986		4 February 1878	Rev. W. Coleman
636	5 February 1878	Arthur Gethen Creagh Jane Ann Steele	Arthur Gethin Creagh Jane Ann Sewell 💍 1878/637	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	27 22	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 12 years	St Lukes Church, Oamaru	78/646		5 February 1878	Rev. A. Gifford
637	8 February 1878	Isaac Kear Kate Baker	Isaac Kear Kate Baker 💍 1878/561	Widower Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	45 21	Oamaru Oamaru	10 years 1 year	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	78/658		8 February 1878	The Registrar of Marriages, 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).