Intentions to Marry, 1890

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840402, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 1474

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1890

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
1528	1 October 1890	James Renwick Harvey Matilda Gilmour	James Renwick Harvey Matilda Gilmour 💍 1890/3484	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Domestic Servant	29 21	Waitaki South Oamaru	8 years 15 months	The Manse Papakaio	90/3781		1 October 1890	Revd John Steven Presbyterian
1529	2 October 1890	David Smith Laing Sarah Wallace Meek	Danny Smith Laing Sarah Wallace Meek 💍 1890/3325	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 24	Oamaru Oamaru	3 1/2 years 24 years	The house of Mr Thomas Meek Ann Street Oamaru	90/3556		2 October 1890	Revd Alexr B. Todd Presbyterian
1530	6 October 1890	Joseph Charles Phillips Annie Margareth Ward	Joseph Charles Phillips Annie Margaret Ward 💍 1890/3303	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 21	Oamaru Oamaru	21 years 21 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Oamaru	90/3558		6 October 1890	The Registrar of Marriages Oamaru
1531	28 October 1890	Charles Richard Bradley Mary McRee McMaster	Charles Richard Bradley Mary McKee McMaster 💍 1890/3278	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	34 28	Waikoura Waikoura	3 days 28 years	St Luke's Church Oamaru	90/3546		28 October 1890	Revd H. G. Gould Church of England
1532	1 November 1890	John Hynes Mary Kearney	John Hynes Mary Kearney 💍 1890/3323	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	29 23	Oamaru Oamaru	6 days 5 years	St Patrick's Church Oamaru	90/3554		1 November 1890	Revd John Mackay Roman Catholic
1533	27 November 1890	William James Skilleter Eliza Jane Williams	William James Skilleter Eliza Jane Williams 💍 1890/3320	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Mill Worker	27 19	Oamaru Oamaru	6 months 19 years	The house of Revd D. G. Parsonson Oamaru	90/3551	Lavinia Williams mother	2 December 1890	Revd D. G. Parsonson Wesleyan
1534	2 December 1890	William Kinninmouth Mary Annie Nicoll	William Kininmonth Mary Annie Nicol 💍 1890/3519	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Teacher	34 28	Oamaru Oamaru	10 months	The house of Mr Nicoll Otepopo	90/3548		2 December 1890	Revd Jas. Macgregor D. D. Presbyterian
1535	9 December 1890	George Plane Garard Beatrice Elizabeth Thompson	George Elan Garard Beatrice Elizabeth Thompson 💍 1890/3321	Widower Spinster	Machinist	49 years 21 years	Reed Street Oamaru Dee Street Oamaru	14 years 16 years	The house of Mrs Thompson Dee Street Oamaru	90/3552		9 December 1890	Revd D. G. Parsonson Wesleyan
1536	13 December 1890	William John Edwards Annie Gritten	William John Edwards Annie Gribben 💍 1890/3324	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 17	Georgetown Georgetown	12 months 14 years	The Salvation Army Barracks Oamaru	90/3555	John Gritten Father	13 December 1890	Emmanuel Rolfe (commonly called Major Rolfe) Salvation Army
1537	17 December 1890	William Campbell Isabella Rupelle Hume	William Campbell Isabella Russell Hume 💍 1890/3302	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Cook	41 17	Waikoura Fernbrook	2 1/2 years 2 years	The house of Mr Archibald Mitchell Reed Street Oamaru	90/3549		17 December 1890	Revd Jas. Macgregor D. D. Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).