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 857

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1882 Registrar W. F. Gilling

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

987

04 September 1882

James Inlay
Christina Ninnes

James Finlay
Christina Nimmo
💍 1882/2288

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal miner
Servant

21
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

8 days
6 days

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

82/2324

04 September 1882

The Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

No	987
Date of Notice	04 September 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Inlay	Christina Ninnes
BDM Match (79%)	James Finlay	Christina Nimmo
	💍 1882/2288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal miner	Servant
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	8 days	6 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
Folio	82/2324
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 September 1882
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

988

04 September 1882

John Smith
Annie Riordan

John Smith
Annie Riordan
💍 1882/2286

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

36
23

Papakaio
Oamaru

13 years
7 years

The residence of Mr John Smith at Papakaio

82/2325

06 September 1882

Rev. John Stevens

No	988
Date of Notice	04 September 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Annie Riordan
	💍 1882/2286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Papakaio	Oamaru
Length of Residence	13 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr John Smith at Papakaio
Folio	82/2325
Consent
Date of Certificate	06 September 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Stevens

989

13 September 1882

Patrick Gilleran
Ellen Whelan

Patrick Gilleran
Ellen Whelan
💍 1882/2307

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

36
25

Alma
White Rocks

3 years
5 years

St Patrick's Church, Oamaru

82/2322

13 September 1882

Rev. William Coleman

No	989
Date of Notice	13 September 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Gilleran	Ellen Whelan
	💍 1882/2307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Alma	White Rocks
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Oamaru
Folio	82/2322
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Coleman

990

14 September 1882

Samuel Dickson
Catherine Greenfield

Samuel Dickson
Caterinia Greenfield
💍 1882/2639

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
22

Oamaru
South Oamaru

7 years
16 years

The residence of Mr Samuel Dickson, Oamaru

82/2506

14 September 1882

Rev. A. B. Todd

No	990
Date of Notice	14 September 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Dickson	Catherine Greenfield
BDM Match (93%)	Samuel Dickson	Caterinia Greenfield
	💍 1882/2639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	South Oamaru
Length of Residence	7 years	16 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr Samuel Dickson, Oamaru
Folio	82/2506
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd

991

19 September 1882

William Stewart Martin
Janet Scott

William Stewart Martin
Janet Scott
💍 1882/2640

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Servant

25
22

Elderslie
Oamaru

4 weeks
5 months

The residence of Mr James Munro, Mersey Street, Oamaru

82/2507

19 September 1882

Rev. A. B. Todd

No	991
Date of Notice	19 September 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stewart Martin	Janet Scott
	💍 1882/2640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Servant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Elderslie	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 weeks	5 months
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr James Munro, Mersey Street, Oamaru
Folio	82/2507
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd

992

23 September 1882

Edward Cartwright
Mary Ann Matthews

Edward Cartwright
Mary Ann Matthews
💍 1882/2292

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

34
17

Papakaio
Hampden

5 years

The residence of Mr John Matthews, Hampden

82/2331

23 September 1882

Rev. Thomas Francis Dodd

No	992
Date of Notice	23 September 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Cartwright	Mary Ann Matthews
	💍 1882/2292
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	17
Dwelling Place	Papakaio	Hampden
Length of Residence	5 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr John Matthews, Hampden
Folio	82/2331
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Francis Dodd

993

27 September 1882

Arthur William Phipps
Wilhelmina Bardine King

Arthur William Phipps
Wilhelmina Caroline King
💍 1882/3390

Bachelor
Spinster

Stoker
Servant

33
19

Oamaru
Oamaru

8 years
6 years

The residence of Mr Frederick Phipps in Wharf Street, Oamaru

82/3114

Frederick William King, Father

27 September 1882

Rev. John Crump

No	993
Date of Notice	27 September 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Phipps	Wilhelmina Bardine King
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur William Phipps	Wilhelmina Caroline King
	💍 1882/3390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stoker	Servant
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	8 years	6 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr Frederick Phipps in Wharf Street, Oamaru
Folio	82/3114
Consent	Frederick William King, Father
Date of Certificate	27 September 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Crump

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).