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 318

District of Oamaru 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
1141	26 August 1884	Gray Hafsell Eliza Abernetty	Gray Hassell Eliza Abernethy 💍 1884/2967	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon	23 23	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 10 days	St. Paul's Church Oamaru	84/2485		26 August 1884	Revd. R. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1142	1 September 1884	William John Bailey Margareta McGregor	William John Bailey Margareta McGregor 💍 1884/2969	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	21 21	Oamaru Oamaru	10 years 10 years	The residence of John Bailey Cropdane Oamaru	84/2484		1 September 1884	Revd. Thomas Sadler, Primitive Methodist
1143	8 September 1884	Andrew O'Connor Johanna Flaherty	Andrew OConnor Johanna Flaherty 💍 1884/3798	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	24 26	Oamaru Oamaru District	5 days 7 years	St. Patrick's Church Oamaru	84/3168		8 September 1884	Very Revd. William Coleman, Roman Catholic
1144	12 September 1884	Charles Graham Bridget Murray	Charles Graham Bridget Murray 💍 1884/2971	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant Servant	23 17	Ngapara Ngapara	5 years 12 years	The residence of Mr. John Murray Ngapara	84/2489	John Murray, Father	12 September 1884	Revd. James A. Will, Presbyterian
1145	19 September 1884	George Livingstone Ellen Reid	George Livingstone Ellen Reid 💍 1884/2972	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	Ngapara Gibb-lea Ngapara	7 years 8 years	Waiarareka Church	84/2490		19 September 1884	Revd. James A. Will, Presbyterian
1146	19 September 1884	Joseph Thompson Henry Gertrude Ann Rochefort	Joseph Thompson Henry Gertrude Ann Rochefort 💍 1884/1430	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	27	Oamaru Dunedin	9 months	All Saints Church Dunedin	84/2591		19 September 1884	Revd. A. R. Fitchett, Church of England
1147	29 September 1884	Patrick Rodden Mary O'Brien	Patrick Rodden Mary OBrien 💍 1884/1695 Patrick Holleran Ellen O'Brien 💍 1884/2454	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Servant	26 25	Oamaru Oamaru	8 days 3 days	St. Patrick's Church Oamaru	84/3436		29 September 1884	Revd. William Burke, Roman Catholic
1148	29 September 1884	Edmund Peter James Caroline Jane Sorley	Edmund Peter James Caroline Jane Worley 💍 1884/19	Bachelor Widow	Butcher Butcher	38 38	Teaneraki Teaneraki	12 years 9 years	St. Paul's Church Manse Oamaru	84/3439		29 September 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).