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 1243

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 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
1543	6 January 1891	Henry Mainland Jane Smith	Henry Mainland Jane Smith 💍 1891/1254	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 22	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 3 weeks	The house of Mr. John Mainland, Oamaru	91/1936		6 January 1891	Revd. James McGregor, Presbyterian
1544	19 January 1891	George Stephen Jones Mary Amelia Hurst	George Stephen Jones Mary Amelia Hurst 💍 1891/3226	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Dressmaker	24 25	Oamaru Oamaru	15 years 17 years	The house of Mr. Irwin Hurst, Ann Street, Oamaru	91/715		20 January 1891	Mr. J. D. Shepherd, Church of Christ
1545	23 January 1891	William Webster Robina Ward	William Webster Robina Ward 💍 1891/3228	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	26 21	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 6 months	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	91/717		23 January 1891	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1546	27 January 1891	Samuel Hamilton Marion Frew	Samuel Hamilton Marion Frew 💍 1891/3225 Charles Samuel Stevens Marion Frew 💍 1891/3763	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Farm Servant	24 25	Papakaio Papakaio	2 years 24 years	The house of Mr. John Frew, Papakaio	91/714		27 January 1891	Revd. John Stevens, Presbyterian
1547	3 February 1891	James Rooney Catherine Haggie	James Rooney Catherine Haggie 💍 1891/3224	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	33 29	Oamaru Oamaru	15 years 29 years	St. Patrick's Church, Oamaru	91/713		3 February 1891	Revd. John Mackay, Roman Catholic
1548	11 February 1891	John Robert Nuttall Catherine Martine	John Robert Nuttall Catherine Martin 💍 1891/3229	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	21 27	Kakanni North Kakanni North	3 years 12 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	91/718		11 February 1891	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1549	16 February 1891	William Nimmo Helen Matheson	William Nimmo Helen Matheson 💍 1891/3230	Bachelor Spinster	Coal Merchant	24 19	Ngapara Kakanni North	8 years 1 year	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	91/719	James Matheson, Father	16 February 1891	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1550	2 March 1891	William Ross Mabson Marguerite Campbell	William Rons Mabson Marguerita Campbell 💍 1891/3231 William Samson Margaret McKillop Campbell 💍 1891/94	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 27	Oamaru Oamaru	4 days 5 days	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	91/720		2 March 1891	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1551	19 March 1891	John Henry Miles-Howard Margaret Ridland Blair	John Henry Miles Howard Margaret Ridland Blair 💍 1891/3232	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	25 17	Oamaru Oamaru	5 weeks 10 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	91/721	David Melville Blair, Father	19 March 1891	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

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).