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 314

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 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
1157	21 November 1884	James Burnett Annie Jane Nesbit	James Burnett Annie Jane Nesbitt 💍 1884/1684	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	50 23	Big Hill, Papakaio Papakaio	16 years 18 months	The residence of Mr. John Wade, Papakaio	84/3448		21 November 1884	Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian
1158	25 November 1884	Harry Burling Bridget Agnes Page	Harry Burling Bridget Agnes Page 💍 1884/1683	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 19	Beach Road, Oamaru Oamaru	12 years 13 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	84/3447	John Page, Father	25 November 1884	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1159	3 December 1884	John Downing Sarah Ann Abbott	John Downing Sarah Ann Abbott 💍 1884/1689	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman Dressmaker	28 19	Oamaru Oamaru	5 years 9 years	The House of Mr. Henry Abbott, Teach Street, Oamaru	84/3435	Henry Abbott, Father	3 December 1884	Rev. John Shears, Wesleyan
1160	6 December 1884	John Crombie Mary Jane Ramsay Leishman	John Crombie Mary Jane Ramsay Leishman 💍 1884/1680	Bachelor Spinster	Mason Servant	23 17	South Oamaru Oamaru	5 years 17 years	The House of Mr. John Leishman, Dee Street, Oamaru	84/3444	John Leishman, Father	6 December 1884	Rev. Frank Seth-Smith, Congregationalist
1161	17 December 1884	William Whyte Frances Mary Wilson	William Whyte Frances Mary Wilson 💍 1884/1681	Bachelor Spinster	Spinner	19 20	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 19 years	The residence of Mr. Charles Frederick Wilson, Greta Street, Oamaru	84/3445	Robert Whyte, Charles Frederick Wilson, Fathers	17 December 1884	Rev. Frank Seth-Smith, Congregationalist
1162	17 December 1884	Robert Somerville Amelia Smith	Robert Somerville Amelia Smith 💍 1884/3591	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	23 22	Pukeuri Oamaru	11 months 4 years	The house of Mr. Robert R. Smith, Greta Street, Oamaru	84/3518		17 December 1884	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1163	24 December 1884	Thomas Steel Christina Carruth	Thomas Steel Christina Carruth 💍 1884/1679	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Dressmaker	22 20	Oamaru Oamaru	15 years 20 years	The house of Mrs. Carruth, Thames Street, Oamaru	84/3443	Charlotte Carruth, Mother	24 December 1884	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1164	24 December 1884	John Burn Margaret Pickering	John Burn Margaret Pickering 💍 1884/1697	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	36 22	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 1 year	The house of Mr. Alfred Smith, Usk Street, Oamaru	84/3438		24 December 1884	Rev. Thomas Sadler, Primitive Methodist

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).