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 320

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 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
1120	29 April 1884	John Curran Lizzie Sullivan	John Curran Lizzie Sullivan 💍 1884/2493 John Angland Julie Sullivan 💍 1884/1132	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Servant	26 22	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 4 years	St. Patrick's Church, Oamaru	84/1854		29 April 1884	Revd. William Coleman, Roman Catholic
1121	3 May 1884	Alexander George Sutherland Catherine Kane	Alexander George Sutherland Catherine Kane 💍 1884/1082	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	23 22	Hampden Oamaru	18 months	St. Paul's Church, Manse, Oamaru	84/1591		3 May 1884	Revd. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1122	6 May 1884	Robert Young Jessie Grundy	Robert Young Jessie Erentz 💍 1884/1100	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	38 25	Oamaru Oamaru	7 days 7 days	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	84/1591		6 May 1884	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1123	12 May 1884	James Howden Isabella Henderson	James Howden Isabella Henderson 💍 1884/1083	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 26	Hampden Oamaru	5 years 6 months	The residence of Mr. James Henderson, Coquet Street, Oamaru	84/1598		12 May 1884	Revd. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1124	12 May 1884	Thomas Robert Granger Isabella Pratt	Thomas Nesbit Grange Isabella Watt 💍 1884/1101	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Station Master	25 19	Waimate Waimate	4 days 19 years	The residence of Mr. Alexander Innes, Waimate	84/1592	James Pratt, Father	12 May 1884	Revd. John Steven, Presbyterian
1125	12 May 1884	Joseph Teapean Janet McMurtre	Joseph Trudgian Janet McMurtrie 💍 1884/1102	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	25 21	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 15 years	The residence of Mrs. McMurtre, Eden Street, Oamaru	84/1593		12 May 1884	Revd. John Innes Rishworth, Wesleyan
1126	13 May 1884	William Rolfe Smith Kate Kennedy	William Rolfe Smith Catherine Kennedy 💍 1884/2494	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	42 28	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 14 days	St. Patrick's Church, Oamaru	84/1855		13 May 1884	Revd. William Purton, Roman Catholic
1127	19 May 1884	William John Thompson Mary Ann Dale	William John Thompson Mary McNab 💍 1884/1085 William John Thompson Fanny Jane Pearce 💍 1884/1640	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Shop-woman	22 22	Oamaru Oamaru	14 days 14 years	The residence of Mr. Dale, North Town Belt, Oamaru	84/1600		19 May 1884	Revd. John Foster, Congregational

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).