Intentions to Marry, 1882

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840394, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 852

District of Oamaru Quarter ending [illegible] Registrar [illegible]

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

955

01 April 1882

John Thompson
Janet Smart

John Thompson
Janet Smart
💍 1882/1719

Widower
Widow

Carpenter

52
37

Oamaru
Oamaru

21 years
20 years

At the residence of Janet Smart Eden Street Oamaru

82/1500

01 April 1882

Rev. John Foster Congregationalist

No	955
Date of Notice	01 April 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thompson	Janet Smart
	💍 1882/1719
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	52	37
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Janet Smart Eden Street Oamaru
Folio	82/1500
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 April 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Foster Congregationalist

956

01 April 1882

John Robert Smith
Elizabeth Cookson

John Robert Smith
Elizabeth Cookson
💍 1882/1713

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Servant

23
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
18 months

At the residence of James Lindsay Eden Street Oamaru

82/1501

04 April 1882

Rev. James Clover Primitive Methodist

No	956
Date of Notice	01 April 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Smith	Elizabeth Cookson
	💍 1882/1713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Servant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of James Lindsay Eden Street Oamaru
Folio	82/1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 April 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Clover Primitive Methodist

957

08 April 1882

John Campbell
Agnes Wylie

John Campbell
Agnes Wylie
💍 1882/1720

Widower
Widow

Stonemason

54
45

Kakanui
Kakanui

16 years
7 years

The Manse

82/1501

08 April 1882

Rev. A. B. Todd Presbyterian

No	957
Date of Notice	08 April 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Campbell	Agnes Wylie
	💍 1882/1720
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Stonemason
Age	54	45
Dwelling Place	Kakanui	Kakanui
Length of Residence	16 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The Manse
Folio	82/1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	08 April 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd Presbyterian

958

12 April 1882

George Cottername
Susan Duff

George Cottonam
Susan Duff
💍 1882/1698

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Servant

28
28

Oamaru
Oamaru

14 days
3 years

The Manse

82/1502

18 April 1882

Rev. A. B. Todd Presbyterian

No	958
Date of Notice	12 April 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cottername	Susan Duff
BDM Match (91%)	George Cottonam	Susan Duff
	💍 1882/1698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Servant
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	14 days	3 years
Marriage Place	The Manse
Folio	82/1502
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd Presbyterian

959

12 April 1882

Robert Dales
Mary McKenzie

Auto matches with Robert John Baker and Mary McKenzie but that marriage was in March 1882.

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Servant

25
18

Oamaru
Oamaru

5 years
15 months

The Manse

82/1503

John McKenzie Father

19 April 1882

Rev. A. B. Todd Presbyterian

No	959
Date of Notice	12 April 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dales	Mary McKenzie
	💍 Auto matches with Robert John Baker and Mary McKenzie but that marriage was in March 1882.
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Servant
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 years	15 months
Marriage Place	The Manse
Folio	82/1503
Consent	John McKenzie Father
Date of Certificate	19 April 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd Presbyterian

960

14 April 1882

Henry Bottle
Mary Ann Burns

Henry Bottle
Mary Ann Burns
💍 1882/3618

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Servant

23
22

Teaneraki
Teaneraki

3 years
8 months

The Manse

82/1576

19 April 1882

Rev. James Cameron Presbyterian

No	960
Date of Notice	14 April 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bottle	Mary Ann Burns
	💍 1882/3618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Servant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Teaneraki	Teaneraki
Length of Residence	3 years	8 months
Marriage Place	The Manse
Folio	82/1576
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Cameron Presbyterian

961

27 April 1882

Neil Blair Austin
Bridget Sweeney

Neil Blair Austin
Bridget Sweeney
💍 1882/1893

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic Servant

22
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
4 years

The residence of the Rev. D. Coleman

82/1429

27 April 1882

Rev. D. Coleman Roman Catholic

No	961
Date of Notice	27 April 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Blair Austin	Bridget Sweeney
	💍 1882/1893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic Servant
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The residence of the Rev. D. Coleman
Folio	82/1429
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Coleman Roman Catholic

962

01 May 1882

John Morrison Dick
Rebecca Smith

John Morrison Dick
Rebecca Smith
💍 1882/1715

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

27
18

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
1 year

The office of the Registrar of Marriages

82/1494

Isaac Smith Father

01 May 1882

The Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

No	962
Date of Notice	01 May 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morrison Dick	Rebecca Smith
	💍 1882/1715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	82/1494
Consent	Isaac Smith Father
Date of Certificate	01 May 1882
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages at 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 1903. 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).