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 909

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1617	5 April 1892	Thomas Steel Barbara Carrwth	Thomas Steel Barbara Carruth 💍 1892/1588	Widower Spinster	Engineer Dressmaker	24 26	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 26 years	The house of James Reynolds - Dee Street - Oamaru	92/1707	5 April 1892	Rev. A. B. Todd - Presbyterian
1618	20 April 1892	Martin Petersen Jemima Janet Hay	Martin Peterson Jemima Janet May 💍 1892/1558	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	24 26	Oamaru Oamaru	7 years 18 years	St Paul's Church - Manse - Oamaru	92/1700	20 April 1892	Rev. A. B. Todd - Presbyterian
1619	20 April 1892	Malcolm Emerson Martha Catherine Anderson	Malcolm Emerson Martha Catherine Anderson 💍 1892/1586	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 24	Windsor Park Oamaru	3 months 24 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages - Oamaru	92/1705	20 April 1892	The Registrar of Marriages - Oamaru
1620	26 April 1892	Robert George Shalders Rosie Billing	Robert George Shalders Rosie Billing 💍 1892/1566	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Housemaid	36 26	Landon Oamaru	20 years 6 years	St Paul's Church - Manse - Oamaru	92/1701	26 April 1892	Rev. A. B. Todd - Presbyterian
1621	29 April 1892	Alexander McLellan Theresa McLaughlin	Alexander McLellan Theresa McLaughlin 💍 1892/1585	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman Cook	45 32	Oamaru Oamaru	8 years 8 years	The house of the Revd John Mackay - Otepopo	92/1704	29 April 1892	Rev. John Mackay - Roman Catholic
1622	20 May 1892	Finlay Cook Elder Jessie Calder	Finlay Cook Elder Jessie Calder 💍 1892/1557	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	31 21	Totara Totara	3 years 6 months	The house of Mr. William Calder - Round Hill - Totara	92/1699	20 May 1892	Rev. James A. Will - Presbyterian
1623	27 May 1892	Edward Robert Hay Mary Willett	Edward Robert Hay May Willett 💍 1892/1555	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 23	Waiareka Waiareka	14 years 5 years	The dwelling house of Mr. Richard Willett at Waiareka	92/1697	27 May 1892	Revd Algernon Gifford - Church of England
1624	9 June 1892	John Caples Mary Maria Pagan	John Caples Mary Maria Pagan 💍 1892/1587	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	31 26	Peebles Peebles	1 year 4 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages - Oamaru	92/1706	9 June 1892	The Registrar of Marriages - Oamaru
1625	20 June 1892	George Gallie Millen Ada Alberta Chulee	George Gallie Millen Ada Alberta Clulee 💍 1892/1577	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	36 29	Oamaru Oamaru	14 years 5 years	St Paul's Church - Manse - Oamaru	92/1702	20 June 1892	Rev. A. B. Todd - Presbyterian
1626	21 June 1892	Frank Ballantyne Elizabeth Bifset	Frank Ballantyne Elizabeth Bisset 💍 1892/1590	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	26 23	Oamaru Oamaru	2 years 2 years	The private house of Mr. Alexander Bifset - Test Street - Oamaru	92/1709	21 June 1892	Rev. John A. Luxford - 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).