Intentions to Marry, 1884

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840396, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 323

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1884

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
1096	5 January 1884	John Marwick Clementine Hourston	John Marwick Clementina Houston 💍 1884/1869	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	34 31	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 3 days	The residence of Mr David Moodie, Oamaru	84/1611		5 January 1884	Revd A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1097	7 January 1884	James Hollows Maggie Lindsay	James Hollow Maggie Lindsay 💍 1884/1870	Bachelor Spinster	Cab-driver	23 22	Oamaru Alma	10 years 4 years	Manse - Oamaru	84/1612		7 January 1884	Revd A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1098	9 January 1884	Robert Vallance Agnes Wallace	Robert Vallance Agnes Wallace 💍 1884/1871	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	38 26	Georgetown Georgetown	6 years 3 months	St Paul's Church	84/1613		9 January 1884	Revd A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1099	9 January 1884	James Simpson Mary Cooper	James Simpson Mary Cooper 💍 1884/3722	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 18	Oamaru Oamaru	8 years 1 year	St Paul's Church	84/1614	Thomas John Cooper, Father	9 January 1884	Revd A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1100	7 January 1884	Alfred George Baker Elizabeth Jane Ridley	Alfred George Baker Elizabeth Jane Ridley 💍 1884/1865	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	27 19	Oamaru Hilderthorpe	3 years 4 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	84/1609	Mary Jane Dennison, Mother	7 January 1884	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1101	30 January 1884	Alexander McCallum Mary Martin	Alexander McCallum Mary Martin 💍 1884/1849 George Colison Mary Martin 💍 1884/2294	Bachelor Spinster	Engine-driver Dressmaker	32 23	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 5 years	The residence of Mr David Chalmers, Arun Street, Oamaru	84/1615		30 January 1884	Revd A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1102	5 February 1884	Richard Capstick Isabella McIntosh	Richard Capstick Isabella McIntosh 💍 1884/1853	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist Housemaid	23 18	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 8 years	The Imperial Hotel, Oamaru	84/1619	Robert McIntosh, Father	5 February 1884	Revd John Foster, Congregationalist
1103	6 February 1884	David McLaren Maria Trousdale	David McLaren Maria Tavendale 💍 1884/1866	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet-maker Servant	24 25	Oamaru Oamaru	8 years 2 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	84/1608		6 February 1884	The Registrar of Marriages, 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 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).