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 1691

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 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
1754	11 October 1894	Hoo See Mary Grant	Hoo See Mary Grant 💍 1894/4145	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	45 26	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 4 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru	94/3929		11 October 1894	The Registrar of Marriages - Oamaru
1755	12 October 1894	James Mitchell Mary Webster Buist	James Mitchell Mary Buist 💍 1894/3773	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Dressmaker	36 28	Oamaru Oamaru	8 years 28 years	The house of Mr. David Buist, Oamaru	94/3929		12 October 1894	Rev. Mr. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1756	10 November 1894	John Frew Elizabeth Hope	John Holt Elizabeth Hope 💍 1894/3791	Bachelor Spinster	Carder Servant	26 25	Oamaru Georgetown	12 years 15 years	The house of Mr. Walter Frew, Georgetown	94/3931		10 November 1894	Mr. Albert Chilton Ludbrook, Church of Christ
1757	15 November 1894	William Alexander Johnston Mary Cammock	William Alexander Johnston Mary Cummock 💍 1894/3792	Bachelor Spinster	Gold-miner	26 23	Oamaru Papakaio	7 days 3 days	The house of Mr. John Frew, Papakaio	94/3932		15 November 1894	Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian
1758	19 November 1894	George Ross Hislop Alice Lily Stratford	George Ross Hislop Alice Lily Stratford 💍 1894/3710	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	38 23	Oamaru Christchurch	7 years 7 years	The house of Mr. Peter Brighton, Christchurch	94/4920		19 November 1894	Rev. John Ainslie D.D., Presbyterian
1759	26 November 1894	William John Ferrie Lizzie Todd	William John Gerrie Lizzie Todd 💍 1894/3784	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	21 18	Oamaru Oamaru	21 years 7 years	The house of Mr. Thomas Todd, Senr., Thames Street, Oamaru	94/3930	Thomas Todd, father	26 November 1894	Rev. J. B. Todd, Presbyterian
1760	4 December 1894	John Frew Elizabeth Fraser	John Frew Elizabeth Fraser 💍 1894/3793	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	24 22	Papakaio Peebles	24 years 7 years	The house of Mr. Peter Fraser, Peebles	94/3933		4 December 1894	Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian
1761	14 December 1894	Duncan Cameron Jessie Doig	Duncan Cameron Jessie Doig 💍 1894/3794	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	31 27	Papakaio Papakaio	13 years 27 years	The house of Miss Doig, Papakaio	94/3934		14 December 1894	Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian
1762	31 December 1894	Noah Sherratt Sarah Jane Rusbatch	Noah Sherratt Sarah Jane Rusbatch 💍 1895/3552	Bachelor Spinster	Mill Proprietor Milliner	23 28	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 1 month	The house of Mr. Samuel Rusbatch, Amhurst, Oamaru	95/978		31 December 1894	Rev. Walter Harris, Primitive Methodist
1763	31 December 1894	Henry Samuel Searle Emma Elizabeth Manton	Henry Samuel Searle Emma Elizabeth Manton 💍 1895/3315	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet-maker	24 21	Oamaru Oamaru	5 years 21 years	St. Luke's Church, Oamaru	95/914		31 December 1894	Rev. Canon H. G. Gould, Church of England

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).