Intentions to Marry, 1894

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840406, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 6 2025

Page 1244

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1894

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
1741	3 July 1894	James Duffey Christina Clement Hunter	James Duffy Christina Clement Hunter 💍 1894/2872	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Cook	30 23	Oamaru Oamaru	5 days 5 days	St Joseph's Church	94/3058		3 July 1894	The Rev. Fr. Mackay, Roman Catholic
1742	3 July 1894	John Campbell Catherine Lindsay	John Campbell Catherine Lindsay 💍 1894/2628	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Domestic Servant	28 20	Oamaru Alma	3 days 3 months	St Paul's Church	94/2822	James Lindsay, Father	3 July 1894	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1743	3 July 1894	Robert McLeod Sarah Jane Wilson	Robert McLeod Sarah Jane Wilson 💍 1894/3823	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Housekeeper	28 35	Oamaru Oamaru	4 months 7 years	Columba Church	94/4179		3 July 1894	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1744	4 July 1894	William Couper Ellen Jane Leslie	William Couper Ellen Jane Leslie 💍 1894/2629	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic Servant	27 21	Oamaru Oamaru	19 years 20 years	The residence of Mr. D. Leslie, Thames Street, Oamaru	94/2823		4 July 1894	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1745	9 July 1894	William Barsdell Anne Agnew formerly Fredlock	William Barsdell Anne Agnew 💍 1894/2630	Widower Widow	Hairdresser Housekeeper	47 40	Oamaru Oamaru	13 years 3 months	The residence of Mr. William Barsdell, James Street, Oamaru	94/2824		9 July 1894	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1746	23 July 1894	George Everett Eliza Barsdell	George Everitt Eliza Barsdell 💍 1894/2650	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Domestic Servant	24 21	Oamaru Oamaru	24 years 11 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	94/2820		23 July 1894	The Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1747	10 August 1894	William Perry Margaret Findlay Bissett	William Perry Margaret Findlay Bisset 💍 1894/2631	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Housekeeper	27 23	Otepopo Oamaru	6 years 14 years	The residence of William Bissett, Oamaru	94/2825		10 August 1894	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1748	23 August 1894	Harry O'Grady Mary Bowler	Harry O'Grady Mary Bowler 💍 1894/2627	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Factory Worker	25 24	Oamaru Oamaru	2 years 16 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	94/2821		23 August 1894	The Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
1749	12 September 1894	James Smart Elizabeth Jane Henderson	James Smart Elizabeth Jane Henderson 💍 1894/2633	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	32 20	Waitaki South Waitaki South	3 days 3 days	St Paul's Church	94/2827	John Henderson, Father	12 September 1894	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian Minister

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).