Intentions to Marry, 1893

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840405, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 6 2025.

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

Page 1617

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1893

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
1691	17 October 1893	John Campbell Elizabeth Paterson	John Campbell Elizabeth Paterson 💍 1893/3620	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Housekeeper	28 28	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 28 years	The house of Mr Gavin Paterson, Feather Street, Oamaru	93/3994		17 October 1893	Rev. Jas. Chapple D.S. Presbyterian
1692	17 October 1893	Harry George Earley Kate Elizabeth Cleaver	Harry George Earley Kate Elizabeth Cleaser 💍 1893/3380	Bachelor Spinster	Statelayer	22 24	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 10 years	The residence of Rev. J. A. Duoford, Oamaru	93/3808		17 October 1893	Rev. J. A. Duoford, Wesleyan
1693	25 October 1893	Patrick Reilly Bridget Burke	Patrick Reilly Bridget Burke 💍 1893/688	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Cook	27 27	Oamaru Oamaru	14 years 2 years	St. Joseph's Church, Oamaru	93/3811		25 October 1893	Rev. William Mc Mullen, Roman Catholic
1694	26 October 1893	William Macaulay Mary Kerr	William Macaulay Mary Kerr 💍 1893/686	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 24	Totara Totara	20 years 2 years	The residence of Mr David Pudge, Totara	93/3809		26 October 1893	Rev. William Wright, Presbyterian
1695	31 October 1893	Alexander Macdonald Rachel Lindsay	Alexander MacDonald Rachel Lindsay 💍 1893/691	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	38 30	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 15 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	93/3814		31 October 1893	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1696	4 November 1893	David McBratney Mary Dowie	David McBratney Mary Dowie 💍 1893/692	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic servant	35 19	Oamaru Oamaru	7 days 7 days	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	93/3815	Robert Dowie, Father	4 November 1893	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1697	14 November 1893	James Kinloch Jeannie Crawford	James Kinloch Jeannie Crawford 💍 1893/4115	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 24	Ngapara Ngapara	4 days 11 years	The house of Mr Alexander Balfour, Ngapara	93/3806		14 November 1893	Rev. Peter Scott Hay, Presbyterian
1698	25 November 1893	Robert Nelson Janet Waterworth	Robert Helson Janet Waterworth 💍 1893/693	Widower Widow	Laborer	43 42	Oamaru Oamaru	9 years 18 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	93/3816		25 November 1893	The Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1699	27 November 1893	William Black Mary Nesbitt	William Black Mary Nesbitt 💍 1893/3609	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	39 29	Awamoko Peebles	14 years 7 years	The residence of Mr James Burnett, Peebles, near Peebles	93/3876		27 November 1893	Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian
1700	30 November 1893	James Edward Lowen Isabella Wilson	James Edward Lowen Isabella Wilson 💍 1893/3379	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer	22 19	Oamaru Oamaru	7 days 19 years	At the residence of Mr Charles Frederick Wilson, Greta Street, Oamaru	93/3807	Charles Frederick Wilson, Father	30 November 1893	Rev. J. A. Duoford, 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).