Intentions to Marry, 1887

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840399, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 1020

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1887

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
1343	4 July 1887	Frederick William Earle Harriet Davidson	Frederick William Earle Harriet Davidson 💍 1887/704	Bachelor Spinster	Jailor Dressmaker	26 28	Oamaru Oamaru	18 years 1 week	The house of Mr. Frederick Earle Lothersheer Oamaru	87/2353		4 July 1887	Revd. Frank Seth-Smith Congregationalist
1344	4 July 1887	Edmund Fairbrother Elizabeth Smart	Edmund Fairbrother Elizabeth Smart 💍 1887/722	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Tailoress	25 18	Oamaru Oamaru	8 years 18 years	The house of Mr. John Thompson Eden Street Oamaru	87/2357	Janet Thompson mother	8 July 1887	Revd. Alexr. B. Todd Presbyterian
1345	4 July 1887	Thomas Norris Susan Davis	Thomas Norris Susan Davis 💍 1887/702	Widower Spinster	Laborer Housekeeper	40 28	Oamaru Oamaru	11 years 8 months	St Luke's Church Oamaru	87/2352		14 July 1887	Revd. Algernon Gifford Church of England
1346	14 July 1887	George William Corveth Jane Horrigan	George William Carveth Jane Horrigan 💍 1887/723	Bachelor Widow	Sailmaker Laundress	39 46	South Oamaru South Oamaru	6 months 10 years	St Paul's Church Oamaru	87/2358		14 July 1887	Revd. Alexr. B. Todd Presbyterian
1347	28 July 1887	John Wilson Johnston Mary Laudor Bain	John Wilson Johnston Mary Landers Bain 💍 1887/724	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 27	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 6 days	The house of Mr. Donald Gunn Yorridge Street Oamaru	87/2359		28 July 1887	Revd. Alexr. B. Todd Presbyterian
1348	1 August 1887	William McKenzie Catherine Sutherland	William McKenzie Catherine Sutherland 💍 1887/726	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	36 28	South Oamaru Oamaru	8 years 3 1/2 years	St Paul's Church Oamaru	87/2361		1 August 1887	Revd. Alexr. B. Todd Presbyterian
1349	1 August 1887	Michael Walsh Bridget Slattery	Michael Walsh Bridget Slattery 💍 1887/703	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	26 28	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 6 years	St Patrick's Church Oamaru	87/2354		1 August 1887	Very Revd. Wm. Coleman Roman Catholic
1350	1 August 1887	John Duncan Bifset Elizabeth Billingham	John Duncan Bisset Elizabeth Billingham 💍 1887/725	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	32 19	Oamaru Oamaru	12 years 19 years	The house of Mr. George Watson Tees Street Oamaru	87/2360		1 August 1887	Revd. Alexr. B. Todd Presbyterian Minister

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).