Intentions to Marry, 1892

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840404, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

Page 516

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1892

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
1641	12 August 1892	William John Richards Marjory Annie Sinclair	William John Richards Marjory Annie Sinclair 💍 1892/4040	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Saleswoman	24 22	Oamaru Oamaru	24 years 7 years	The house of Mr. Alexander Sinclair, Esk Street, Oamaru	92/2670		12 August 1892	Rev. John A. Luxford, Wesleyan
1642	19 August 1892	Donald Cameron Macintype Barbara Waters	Donald Cameron Macintyre Barbara Waters 💍 1892/2682	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant	35 20	Oamaru Totara - Weston	4 days 4 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	92/2916	John Waters, Father (see below)	22 August 1892	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1643	17 August 1892	Robert Richard Kirby Hannah Grave	Robert Richard Kirby Hannah Grave 💍 1892/2645	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	33 28	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 15 years	St. Luke's Church	92/2666		17 August 1892	Rev. H. G. Gould, Church of England
1644	26 August 1892	Hubert George Mitchell Isobel Morton	Hubert George Mitchell Isobel Morton 💍 1892/3994	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist Music Teacher	23 26	Oamaru Oamaru	3 years 10 years	St. Luke's Church	92/2667		26 August 1892	Rev. H. G. Gould, Church of England
1645	1 September 1892	Malcolm Livingstone Margaret McDonald	Malcolm Livingstone Margarite McDonald 💍 1892/2649	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 27	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 1 month	St. Paul's Church	92/2672		1 September 1892	Rev. Alex. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1646	5 September 1892	Donald Cameron Macintype Barbara Waters	Donald Cameron Macintyre Barbara Waters 💍 1892/2682	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant	35 20	Oamaru Totara - Weston	8 days 4 years	Columba Church, Manse, Oamaru	92/2916	John Waters, Father	5 September 1892	Rev. James Macgregor D.D., Presbyterian
1647	7 September 1892	Peter Young Georgina Eliza Dray	Peter Young Georgina Ann Elizabeth Wray 💍 1892/2635	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	26 20	Oamaru Oamaru	26 years 16 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	92/2674	George Dray, Father	7 September 1892	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1648	13 September 1892	James Russell Mary Jane Tonkin	James Russell Mary Jane Tonkins 💍 1892/2526 James Russell Esther Jane Skelton 💍 1893/3949	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Dressmaker	28 23	Enfield Weston	28 years 9 years	The house of Mr. William Russell, Enfield	92/2661		13 September 1892	Rev. James A. Gill, Presbyterian
1649	17 September 1892	John Beveridge Barbara McPhail	John Beveridge Barbara Christina McPhail 💍 1892/2634	Bachelor Spinster	Chief Steward	25 23	Papakaio Papakaio	5 days 23 years	The house of Mr. Donald Mc Phail, Papakaio	92/2663		17 September 1892	Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian
1650	20 September 1892	Edwin McKenzie Louisa Kelly	Colin McKenzie Louisa Kelly 💍 1892/2644	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	33 31	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 14 days	The Vestry of St. Joseph's Church	92/2665		20 September 1892	Very Rev. John Mackey, Roman Catholic

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).