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 0812

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
638	25 February 1878	Ronald McMillen Barbara Alexandra Bowie	Ronald McMillan Barbara Alexandra Cowie 💍 1878/652	Widower Spinster	Shepherd Domestic Servant	40 years 28 years	Benmore Oamaru	3 years 6 months	The Residence of Mr Andrew Hulding	78/637		25 February 1878	Rev. A. B. Todd
639	25 February 1878	William Jarvie Orr Annie Clark	William Jarvie Orr Annie Clark 💍 1878/645	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	28 years 20 years	Oamaru Oamaru	14 days 14 days	The Residence of Mr James Clarke	78/636	James Clark, Father	25 February 1878	Rev. A. B. Todd
640	27 February 1878	George Henry Griff Brook Mary Ann Searle	George Henry Croft Hook Mary Ann Searle 💍 1878/658	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer	26 years 22 years	Oamaru Kakanui	15 years 3 years	Wesley Church, Oamaru	78/673		27 February 1878	Rev. John Armitage
641	4 March 1878	James Wilson Catherine Courtney	James Wilson Catherine Courtney 💍 1878/653	Bachelor Spinster	Farmerman	24 years 23 years	Oamaru Oamaru	14 months 7 months	The Residence of Mr James Wilson in Coquet Street, Oamaru	78/638		4 March 1878	Rev. A. B. Todd
642	6 March 1878	John Moore Honora Murphy		Widower Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	65 years 44 years	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 4 years	St. Patrick's	78/675		6 March 1878	Rev. W. Coleman, RC
643	6 March 1878	Robert Kilpatrick Margaret Riddle Campbell	Robert Kilpatrick Margaret Riddle Campbell 💍 1878/654	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Dressmaker	26 years 21 years	Oamaru Oamaru	2 years 18 months	St. Paul's Church, Oamaru	78/639		6 March 1878	Rev. A. B. Todd
644	15 March 1878	Henry Hewitt Jessie Duncan	Henry Hewitt Jessie Duncan 💍 1878/538	Bachelor Spinster	Fishmonger	39 years 30 years	Oamaru Oamaru	12 months 15 months	At Oamaru	78/5		15 March 1878	The Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
645	16 March 1878	George Harris Bridget Flannery	George Harris Bridget Flannery 💍 1878/635	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	28 years 21 years	Oamaru Oamaru	12 months 2 years	The Residence of Mr Brown in Greta Street, Oamaru	78/644		16 March 1878	Rev. John Armitage
646	19 March 1878	Alexander Adams Annie Alfain	Alexander Adams Annie Alford 💍 1878/655	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic Servant	24 years 18 years	Oamaru Oamaru	15 months 4 months	The Residence of Mr Barraclough in Wye Street, Meadowbank	78/640	Declaration	19 March 1878	Rev. A. B. Todd
647	25 March 1878	John Murray Bridget Coffey	John Murray Bridgett Coffey 💍 1878/2966	Widower Widow	Laborer	41 years 30 years	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 4 months	St. Patrick's Church, Oamaru	78/987		25 March 1878	Rev. W. Coleman, RC
648	25 March 1878	John Jones Mary Griffin	John Jones Mary Griffen 💍 1878/656 John Jones Martha Baker 💍 1879/555	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	33 years 24 years	Oamaru Oamaru	14 years 1 month	At the Residence of Mr. Peter Coulson in Trent Street, Oamaru	78/641		25 March 1878	Rev. A. B. Todd
649	28 March 1878	Hans Holm Emily Farran	Hans Holm Emily Farrar 💍 1878/636	Bachelor Widow	Blacksmith	43 years 41 years	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 5 years	The Residence of Mr Barraclough, Meadowbank	78/645		28 March 1878	Rev. 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 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).