Intentions to Marry, 1883

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840395, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

Page 853

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1883 Registrar William Gabriel Hume

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
1024	9 April 1883	William Henry Roberts Catherine Jessmann	William Henry Roberts Catherine Jefsman 💍 1883/1336	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 24	Oamaru Oamaru	3 months 3 weeks	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Oamaru	83/1444		9 April 1883	The Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
1025	16 April 1883	Charles Duncan Cameron Maria Lowsley	Charles Duncan Cameron Maria Lousley 💍 1883/1337	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Housemaid	25 21	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 3 days	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Oamaru	83/1448		16 April 1883	The Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
1026	16 April 1883	Thomas Mansell Ellen Sullivan	Thomas Mansell Ellen Sullivan 💍 1883/1389	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	24 22	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 5 years	St Patrick's Church Oamaru	83/1445		16 April 1883	Rev. William Coleman, Roman Catholic
1027	20 April 1883	Robert Thompson Emily Kelly	Robert Thompson Emily Kelly 💍 1883/1338	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 20	Ngapara Ngapara	6 years 5 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages - Oamaru	83/1449	Edwin Kelly, Father	20 April 1883	The Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
1028	23 April 1883	John Carnihan Bridget Sullivan	John Counihan Bridget Sullivan 💍 1883/1388	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	28 24	Lauriston Nursery Oamaru	4 years 3 years	St Patrick's Church	83/1494		23 April 1883	Rev. William Coleman, Roman Catholic
1029	23 April 1883	James George Finch Grace Lemon	James George Finch Grace Lemon 💍 1883/1405	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	35 19	Oamaru Oamaru	14 years 19 years	St Luke's Church Oamaru	83/1464	John Lemon, Father	23 April 1883	Rev. Algernon Gifford, Church of England
1030	25 April 1883	Robert Guthrie Georgiana Clark Neilson	Robert Guthrie Georgina Clark Neilson 💍 1883/2427	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 28	Oamaru Hilderthorpe	3 days 7 years	The residence of Mr. Neilson at Hilderthorpe	83/2324		25 April 1883	Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian
1031	27 April 1883	Malcolm McIntyre Jane Graham	Malcolm McIntyre Jane Graham 💍 1883/1343	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	39 40	Papakaio Papakaio	3 years 1 year	The residence of Mr. McKay, Yunt Street Oamaru	83/1454		27 April 1883	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian

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).