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 317

District of Oamaru & his Deputy Quarter ending 30 September 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
1133	11 July 1884	David Buick Lilliamina M Isaac	David Buick Wilhilmina McIsaac 💍 1884/2970	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant Servant	32 24	Airedale Airedale	7 days 3 months	The residence of Mr John Hunter Airedale	84/2488		11 July 1884	Revd John Stevens Presbyterian
1134	18 July 1884	James Allan Sophia Angus	James Allan Sophia Angus 💍 1884/2964	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	45 32	Oamaru Oamaru	20 years 2 years	The residence of Mr Moodie - Mersey Street Oamaru	84/2482		18 July 1884	Revd A. B. Todd Presbyterian
1135	29 July 1884	James Rosie Christina Campbell	James Rozie Christina Campbell 💍 1884/3698	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Servant	39 26	Oamaru Oamaru	5 years 2 months	The residence of Mr James Rosie Greta Street Oamaru	84/2808		29 July 1884	Revd James Macgregor S. D. Presbyterian
1136	30 July 1884	John Callahan Ellen Skerret	John Callahan Ellen Skerret 💍 1884/756	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 20	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 14 days	St. Patrick's Church Oamaru	84/3166	Sarah Skerret, Mother	30 July 1884	Revd William Carton Roman Catholic
1137	2 August 1884	William Rusbatch Emma Goodson	William Rusbatch Emma Goodson 💍 1884/2968	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 21	Oamaru South Oamaru	15 years 3 weeks	The residence of Mr Samuel Rusbatch Humber Street Oamaru	84/2486		2 August 1884	Revd Thomas Sadler Primitive Methodist
1138	11 August 1884	Matthew Gray Young Agnes Anderson Barclay	Matthew Gray Young Agnes Anderson Barclay 💍 1884/2965	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	23 21	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 21 years	The residence of Mr John Barclay Eden Street Oamaru	84/2483		11 August 1884	Revd A. B. Todd Presbyterian
1139	13 August 1884	Hugh Harvey Black Margaret Fallon	Hugh Harvey Black Margaret Fallon 💍 1884/757	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Servant	21 23	Oamaru Oamaru	21 years 4 years	St. Patrick's Church Oamaru	84/3167		13 August 1884	Ven Archdeacon Wm Coleman Roman Catholic
1140	25 August 1884	William Hart Martha Ann Currie	William Hart Martha Ann Currie 💍 1884/2966	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	21 17	South Oamaru Oamaru	7 years 11 years	The residence of Mr John Currie Thames Street Oamaru	84/2484	John Currie, Father	25 August 1884	Revd 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 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).