Intentions to Marry, 1896 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840409, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025

1896 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 875

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1896

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
35	29 April 1896	Colin McKenzie Margaret O'Connell	Colin McKenzie Margaret O'Connell 💍 1896/1197	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 26	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 6 months	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Oamaru	96/1983	29 April 1896	Rev. William Joseph Lewis, Roman Catholic Priest
36	1 May 1896	William Griffiths Frances Allbrighton	William Griffiths Frances Allbrighton 💍 1896/1343	Widower Spinster	Labourer	72 61	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Oamaru	96/1969	1 May 1896	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
37	1 May 1896	Edward Cartwright Mary Jane Emmerson	Edward Cartwright Mary Jane Emmerson 💍 1896/1200	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	42 29	Opihi Oamaru	12 years 6 months	Residence of Rev. Joseph Sharp, Oamaru	96/1986	1 May 1896	Rev. Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist Minister
38	2 May 1896	James Baire Janet Meldrum Murray	James Bain Janet Meldrum Murray 💍 1896/1344	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanical Engineer	66 50	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Oamaru	96/1970	2 May 1896	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
39	4 May 1896	John Hartley Smith Mary Ann Kerr	John Hartley Smith Mary Ann Kerr 💍 1896/1198	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	27 25	Oamaru Kingsdown	3 days 6 years	St. Mary's Episcopalian Church, Oamaru	96/1984	4 May 1896	Venerable Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
40	7 May 1896	George Filshie Emily Butcher	George Filshie Emily Butcher 💍 1896/1199	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	65 30	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 14 days	Residence of Mr. Edward Cameron, Oamaru	96/1985	7 May 1896	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
41	20 May 1896	Giles Fairbrother Maria Ogden	Giles Fairbrother Maria Ogden 💍 1896/1201	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 28	Oamaru Oamaru	4 years 28 years	Residence of Mr. Richard Ogden, Oamaru	96/1987	20 May 1896	Rev. Charles E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
42	30 May 1896	John Armstrong Rosa Maria Goudale	John Armstrong Rosa Maria Youdale 💍 1896/1202	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 27	Levels Claremont	18 months 14 years	Residence of Mr. Hugh Goudale, Claremont	96/1988	30 May 1896	Rev. Charles E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
43	30 May 1896	William Gibson Ann Isabella Grant	William Gibson Ann Isabella Grant 💍 1896/1195	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Claremont Pleasant Point	19 years 21 years	Presbyterian Church, Pleasant Point	96/1972	30 May 1896	Rev. Joseph White, Presbyterian Minister
44	8 June 1896	Thomas James Myers Harriett Thorne	Thomas James Myers Harriett Thorne 💍 1896/1203	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	25 24	Albury Albury	2 years 14 years	Residence of Mr. Henry Thorne, Albury	96/1989	8 June 1896	Rev. William James Comrie, 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).