Intentions to Marry, 1885

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840397, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 411

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1885 Registrar [illegible]

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
1205	1 July 1885	Anthony Arnold Christina Fraser	Antony Arnold Christina Fraser 💍 1885/2619	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	48 23	Oamaru Oamaru	1 month 3 days	St Paul's Church, Oamaru	85/2570		1 July 1885	Revd. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1206	1 July 1885	John Everett Batcheler Hasloch Christina Gibson Alexander	John Everett Balchelor Hasloch Christina Gibson Alexander 💍 1885/2604	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Waitress	28 21	Oamaru Oamaru	2 years 11 months	The house of the Revd. Frank Seth-Smith, Oamaru	85/2578		1 July 1885	Revd. Frank Seth-Smith, Congregationalist
1207	3 July 1885	Robert James Hinkley Mary Jane Cronin	Robert James Hinkley Mary Jane Cromie 💍 1885/2671	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Boarding house Keeper	34 27	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 5 years	The Smith's Hotel, Oamaru	85/2831		3 July 1885	Revd. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1208	13 July 1885	John McCulloch Margaret Matheson	John McCulloch Margaret Matheson 💍 1885/2537	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Boarding House Keeper	45 35	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 14 years	St Patrick's Church, Oamaru	85/2694		13 July 1885	Very Reverend William Coleman, Roman Catholic
1209	15 July 1885	David Finlay Annie Doherty	David Finlay Annie Doherty 💍 1885/2538	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 24	Windsor Oamaru	9 years 12 months	St Patrick's Church, Oamaru	85/2695		15 July 1885	Very Reverend William Coleman, Roman Catholic
1210	15 July 1885	Alexander Hall Mary Welsh Robbie	Alexander Hall Mary Welsh Robbie 💍 1885/2602	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	32 20	Awamoko Pukeuri	23 years 10 years	The house of Mr. James Robbie, Pukeuri	85/2561	James Robbie, Father	15 July 1885	Revd. John Steven, Presbyterian
1211	20 July 1885	Peter Martin Margaret Ann Polson	Peter Martin Margaret Ann Polson 💍 1885/2541	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	30 23	Enfield Enfield	6 years 6 years	The house of Mr. Angus Polson, Enfield	85/2698		20 July 1885	Revd. James A. Will, Presbyterian
1212	10 August 1885	James Wilson Humphrey Hanna Fleming	James Wilson Humphrey Hanna Fleming 💍 1885/2539	Widower Spinster	Merchant	49 23	Oamaru Oamaru	8 years 2 years	The residence of the Very Reverend William Coleman, Oamaru	85/2696		10 August 1885	Very Reverend William Coleman, Roman Catholic

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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).