Intentions to Marry, 1895 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840407, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025.

1895 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 872

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1895

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
1784	15 April 1895	Robert Johnston Harriet Kidd	Robert Johnston Harriet Fridd 💍 1895/695	Widower Spinster	Farmer Housekeeper	51 24	Awamoa Awamoa	20 years 2 years	The house of Mr. Robert Johnston, Awamoa	95/1951		19 April 1895	Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian
1785	15 April 1895	Thomas Inglis Elizabeth Richards	Thomas Inglis Elizabeth Richards 💍 1895/726	Widower Spinster	Engine driver Housekeeper	54 47	Oamaru Oamaru	20 years 6 years	The house of Mr. Thomas Inglis, Greta Street, Oamaru	95/1960		19 April 1895	Rev. E.S.B. Marten, Wesleyan
1786	15 April 1895	William Holden Margaret Paterson	William Fowler Meldrum Margaret Paterson 💍 1895/708	Bachelor Spinster	Music seller Dressmaker	28 28	Oamaru Oamaru	20 years 20 years	Eden Street, Oamaru	95/1964		19 April 1895	Rev. H.B. Todd, Presbyterian
1787	22 April 1895	Thomas Janesey Dinah Ford	Thomas Tansey Dinah Ford 💍 1895/711	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 25	Deborah Oamaru	6 years 25 years	St. Patrick's Basilica, Oamaru	95/1969		22 April 1895	Very Rev. John Mackay, Roman Catholic
1788	23 April 1895	Daniel Dominick O'Brien Mary Ellen O'Connor	Daniel Dominick OBrien Mary Ellen OConnor 💍 1895/710	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 23	Oamaru Papakaio	2 months 23 years	St. Patrick's Basilica, Oamaru	95/1968		23 April 1895	Very Rev. John Mackay, Roman Catholic
1789	2 May 1895	John Leith Badeley Emily Calder Oliver	John Cecil Badeley Emily Calder Oliver 💍 1895/727	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Milliner	24 21	Oamaru Oamaru	24 years 20 years	The house of Mr. John Oliver, Eye Street, Oamaru	95/1961		2 May 1895	Rev. E.S.B. Marten, Wesleyan
1790	8 May 1895	James Hewson Mary Coulan	James Hewson Mary Coulan 💍 1895/712	Widower Widow	Farmer Housekeeper	45 45	Boundary Creek Boundary Creek	14 years 4 months	St. Patrick's Basilica, Oamaru	95/1970		8 May 1895	Rev. Wm. H. McMullen, Roman Catholic
1791	8 May 1895	George Clarke Elizabeth Irvine	George Clarke Elizabeth Irvine 💍 1895/717	Widower Widow	Labourer	59 38	South Oamaru South Oamaru	6 years 17 years	The house of Mrs. Elizabeth Irvine, South Oamaru	95/1953		8 May 1895	Rev. Wm. Wright, Presbyterian
1792	11 May 1895	John Haggie Clara Irvine Mitchell	John Haggie Clara Annie Mitchell 💍 1895/713	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	20 19	Oamaru Oamaru	20 years 15 years	The house of Mrs. Haggie, Ersk Street, Oamaru	95/1971	Jonathan Mitchell, father	11 May 1895	Very Rev. John Mackay, Roman Catholic
1793	20 May 1895	Thomas Jaist Rose Hart	Thomas Tait Rose Hart 💍 1895/722	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	23 22	South Oamaru South Oamaru	20 years 5 months	The house of Mr. Thomas Jaist, South Oamaru	95/1956		20 May 1895	Rev. Wm. Wright, Presbyterian

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).