Intentions to Marry, 1891

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840403, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

The Archives NZ CSV index has recorded pages 765, 767 and 769 incorrectly as 795, 797 and 796.

Page 491

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1891

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
1568	3 July 1891	Thomas Ramsay Arcilia Brown Bell	Thomas Ramsay Urcilia Brown Bell 💍 1891/1664	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant Servant	25 17	Enfield Enfield	2 years 1 year	The Church Waiareka	91/2561	Robert Bell Father	3 July 1891	Rev. James A. Will Presbyterian
1569	7 July 1891	Jeremiah Meehan Elizabeth Gleeson	Jeremiah Muhan Elizabeth Gleeson 💍 1891/1653	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Dressmaker	35 32	Deborah Oamaru	14 days 7 days	St Joseph's Church Oamaru	91/2556		7 July 1891	Very Rev. John MacKay Roman Catholic
1570	11 July 1891	David Little Rooma Jane Ballantyne	David Little Robina Jane Ballantyne 💍 1891/1643	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Tailoress	25 years 21 years	Ngapara Oamaru	14 years 5 years	Salvation Army Barracks Oamaru	91/2564	Immanuel Rolfe, commonly called Major Rolfe Salvation Army	11 July 1891	Immanuel Rolfe, commonly called Major Rolfe Salvation Army
1571	15 July 1891	Timothy Hogan Deborah Cagney	Timothy Hogan Debrah Cagney 💍 1891/5	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Housekeeper	33 27	Waitaki South Waitaki South	7 days 1 month	St Joseph's Church Oamaru	91/2557		15 July 1891	Very Rev. John MacKay Roman Catholic
1572	20 July 1891	Henry Thomas Johnstone Mary Hendrick	Henry Thomas Johnstone Mary Hendrick 💍 1891/1661	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Servant	24 20	Oamaru Oamaru	24 years 14 months	The house of Mr D. C. Johnstone, Eyre Street, Oamaru	91/2558	George Hendrick Father	20 July 1891	Rev. A. B. Todd Presbyterian
1573	21 July 1891	Alexander James Gilchrist Jemima Crighton Henderson	Alexander James Gilchrist Jemima Oughton Henderson 💍 1891/1644	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 35	Reidston Reidston	3 days 1 week	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Oamaru	91/2565		21 July 1891	The Registrar of Marriages Oamaru
1574	30 July 1891	Robert McIndoe Amy Rebecca Gatchell	Robert McIndoe Amy Rebecca Gatchell 💍 1891/1645	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 21	Reidston Reidston	3 days 15 days	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Oamaru	91/2566		30 July 1891	The Registrar of Marriages Oamaru
1575	4 August 1891	James Gibson Jane Tait Davidson	James Gibson Jane Tait Davidson 💍 1891/1665	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Servant	29 21	Hayfield Ngapara Hayfield Ngapara	18 months 5 years	The house of Mr George Livingstone Hayfield Ngapara	91/2562		4 August 1891	Rev. James A. Will Presbyterian
1576	10 August 1891	John Sawers Agnes Scott Meek	John Sawers Agnes Scott Meek 💍 1891/1666	Bachelor Spinster	Dairy Instructor	24 23	Enfield Enfield	3 days 23 years	The house of Mr William Meek Enfield	91/2563		10 August 1891	Rev. James A. Will Presbyterian
1577	13 August 1891	Alexander McCullough Georgiana Nightingale	Alexander McCullough Georgiana Nightingale 💍 1891/2934	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 19	Oamaru Oamaru	15 years 5 years	St Luke's Church Oamaru	91/3474	William Nightingale Father	21 September 1891	Rev. H. G. Gould Church of England

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).