Intentions to Marry, 1888

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840400, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 1062

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1888

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
1411	1 July 1888	John Richard Gray Margaret White	John Richard Wray Margaret White 💍 1888/2445	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 24	Oamaru Brooklett	14 years 2 years	St Paul's Church, Manse, Oamaru	88/2492		14 July 1888	Rev. Alex. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1412	23 July 1888	George Knox Maggie Watson	George Knox Maggie Watson 💍 1888/2738	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller (Ironmonger)	26 25	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 15 years	The house of Mr. Henry Watson, Tyne Street, Oamaru	88/2703		23 July 1888	Rev. James Macgregor D.D., Presbyterian
1413	2 August 1888	John Redden Margaret Gleeson	John Bedden Margaret Gleeson 💍 1888/2448	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Charwoman	35 37	Oamaru Oamaru	14 years 14 years	St Patrick's Church, Oamaru	88/2495		2 August 1888	Rev. Edward Donnelly, Roman Catholic
1414	2 August 1888	James Cumming Fraser Matilda Waterreus	James Cumming Fraser Matilda Watereus 💍 1888/2739	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 20	Oamaru Oamaru	14 years 3 weeks	The house of Mr. John Fraser, Hull Street, Oamaru	88/2704	John Waterreus, Father	2 August 1888	Rev. James Macgregor D.D., Presbyterian
1415	13 August 1888	Robert Wilson Bridget Gilligan	Robert Wilson Bridget Gilligan 💍 1888/3560	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Cook	34 29	Ngapara Oamaru	6 weeks 5 weeks	The house of the Reverend Edward Donnelly, Oamaru	88/2496		13 August 1888	Rev. Edward Donnelly, Roman Catholic
1416	13 August 1888	William Robert Fincher Mary Hill	William Robert Fincher Mary Hill 💍 1888/2594	Bachelor Spinster	Vanman Servant	23 21	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 10 years	The house of the Reverend Edward Donnelly, Oamaru	88/2497		13 August 1888	Rev. Edward Donnelly, Roman Catholic
1417	18 August 1888	Arthur Dixon Ellen Dewhirst	Arthur Dixon Ellen Dewhirst 💍 1888/2617	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	28 20	Reidston Oamaru	9 months 3 days	The house of the Reverend G. F. J. Spence, Oamaru	88/2504	Edward Dewhirst, Father	18 August 1888	Rev. G. F. J. Spence, Wesleyan
1418	22 August 1888	Alexander Searle Smith Louisa Ferens	Alexander Searle Smith Louisa Ferens 💍 1888/2618	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Governess	23 30	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 3 months	The house of Mrs. Ferens, Trent Street, Oamaru	88/2505		22 August 1888	Rev. G. F. J. Spence, Wesleyan

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).