Intentions to Marry, 1881

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840393, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

Page 847

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1881

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
923	10 October 1881	William Dixon Sarah Diver	William Dobson Sarah Diver 💍 1881/2905 William Wilson Madge Diver 💍 1881/1450	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Servant	26 22	Oamaru Oamaru	7 years 3 years	The Manse	81/2955	10 October 1881	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
924	11 October 1881	Robert Beverly Smith Cecilia Conwell	Robert Beverly Smith Cecilia Connell 💍 1881/2904	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	30 25	Elderslie Oamaru	3 1/2 years 7 days	The Manse	81/2954	11 October 1881	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
925	18 October 1881	Robert Lumsden Catherine McIntosh	Robert Lumsden Catherine McIntosh 💍 1881/2800	Bachelor Spinster	Saddlemaker Dressmaker	40 27	Oamaru Oamaru	10 years 10 years	In the office of the Registrar of Oamaru	81/2947	18 October 1881	J. L. Tait, dep. Registrar of Oamaru
926	18 October 1881	Frank Turner Jane Cruickshanks	Frank Turner Jane Cruickshanks 💍 1881/3125	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	36 22	Maheno Reidston	15 years 3 months	The Residence of Joseph McEwan, Reidston	81/3102	18 October 1881	Revd John Ryley, Presbyterian
927	19 October 1881	Richard Davies Emma Katherine Sumpter	Richard Davies Emma Katherine Sumpter 💍 1881/2908	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer -	33 22	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 15 years	St Lukes Church, Oamaru	81/2958	19 October 1881	Revd Algernon Gifford, Church of England
928	21 October 1881	David Somers Montagu Mary Janet Gifford	David Somers Montagu Mary Janet Gifford 💍 1881/2909	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk -	39 26	Oamaru Oamaru	5 years 4 years	St Lukes Church, Oamaru	81/2959	21 October 1881	Revd Algernon Gifford, Church of England
929	25 October 1881	Thomas Eastwood Christina Bain	Thomas Eastwood Christine Bain 💍 1881/2906	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman -	30 24	Dunedin Oamaru	6 years 19 years	St Pauls Church, Oamaru	81/2960	25 October 1881	Revd A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
930	1 November 1881	William Fraser Catherine Shine	William Fraser Catherine Shine 💍 1881/2886	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith General Servant	27 21	Georgetown Oamaru	6 months 12 months	The Residence of the Revd William Coleman at Oamaru	81/2952	1 November 1881	Revd William Coleman, Roman Catholic

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).