Intentions to Marry, 1896 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840410, 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 925

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1896 Registrar H. Mauch

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

1870

3 November 1896

Samuel McCulloch McDonald
Phillis Gertrude Broad

Samuel McCulloch McDonald
Phillis Gertrude Broad
💍 1896/3160

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker, Closer

31
18

Oamaru
Oamaru

18 years
18 years

At the house of Mr. George Broad, situate at Stout Street, Oamaru

96/4199

George Broad, father

3 November 1896

Rev. William B. Marten, Wesleyan Church

No	1870
Date of Notice	3 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel McCulloch McDonald	Phillis Gertrude Broad
	💍 1896/3160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker, Closer
Age	31	18
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	18 years	18 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. George Broad, situate at Stout Street, Oamaru
Folio	96/4199
Consent	George Broad, father
Date of Certificate	3 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. William B. Marten, Wesleyan Church

1871

4 November 1896

David Williams
Janet Isabella King

David Williams
Janet Isabella King
💍 1896/3127

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
School Teacher

25
25

Kakanui North
Oamaru

3 years
1 week

The house of Mr. Thomas King, situate at North Road, Oamaru

96/4214

4 November 1896

Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian Church

No	1871
Date of Notice	4 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Williams	Janet Isabella King
	💍 1896/3127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	School Teacher
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Kakanui North	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	1 week
Marriage Place	The house of Mr. Thomas King, situate at North Road, Oamaru
Folio	96/4214
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian Church

1872

7 November 1896

John Clifford Metcalfe
Catherine Meldrum

John Clifford Metcalf
Catherine Meldrum
💍 1896/3141

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 months
6 weeks

At the residence of Rev. William Wright, at Hull Street, Oamaru

96/4205

7 November 1896

Rev. William Wright, Presbyterian Church

No	1872
Date of Notice	7 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clifford Metcalfe	Catherine Meldrum
BDM Match (98%)	John Clifford Metcalf	Catherine Meldrum
	💍 1896/3141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	At the residence of Rev. William Wright, at Hull Street, Oamaru
Folio	96/4205
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright, Presbyterian Church

1873

10 November 1896

John Joseph Dillon
Annie O'Leary

John Joseph Dillon
Annie OLeary
💍 1896/3144

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

10 months
18 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, at Reed Street, Oamaru

96/4209

10 November 1896

Very Rev. John Mackay, Roman Catholic Church

No	1873
Date of Notice	10 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Dillon	Annie O'Leary
BDM Match (96%)	John Joseph Dillon	Annie OLeary
	💍 1896/3144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	10 months	18 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, at Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	96/4209
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. John Mackay, Roman Catholic Church

1874

10 November 1896

Thomas Black
Janet Thin

Thomas Black
Janet Thin
💍 1896/3133

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
General Servant

31
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

14 years
4 years

At the house of Mrs. Annie Burnett, at Peebles Town.

96/4201

10 November 1896

Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian Church

No	1874
Date of Notice	10 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Black	Janet Thin
	💍 1896/3133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	General Servant
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	14 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs. Annie Burnett, at Peebles Town.
Folio	96/4201
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian Church

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 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).