Intentions to Marry, 1897 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840412, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

1897 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 421

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1897 Registrar Henry Hawthorn Raefe

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

1919

5 July 1897

Henry Ruebalch
Amelia Duncan

Henry Rusbatch
Amelia Duncan
💍 1897/125

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

28
23

Oamaru
Hampden, Otago

26 years
23 years

At the house of Mr. Nixon Duncan

97/3490

5 July 1897

Rev. William Nicholl (Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland)

No	1919
Date of Notice	5 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ruebalch	Amelia Duncan
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Rusbatch	Amelia Duncan
	💍 1897/125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Hampden, Otago
Length of Residence	26 years	23 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Nixon Duncan
Folio	97/3490
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Nicholl (Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland)

1920

6 July 1897

Edward McKewen
Ellen O'Brien

Edward McKewen
Ellen O'Brien
💍 1897/2280

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

33
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
12 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, Reed Street, Oamaru

97/3536

6 July 1897

Very Rev. John Mackay (Roman Catholic Church)

No	1920
Date of Notice	6 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward McKewen	Ellen O'Brien
	💍 1897/2280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	97/3536
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. John Mackay (Roman Catholic Church)

1921

26 July 1897

Frederick Herbert Adams
Sarah Hurst

Frederick Herbert Adams
Sarah Hurst
💍 1897/3513

Bachelor
Spinster

Van driver

26
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
18 years

At the house of Mr. Irvine Hurst, situate at Ardgowan near Oamaru

97/3541

26 July 1897

Mr. Fred. W. Greenwood (Church of Christ)

No	1921
Date of Notice	26 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Herbert Adams	Sarah Hurst
	💍 1897/3513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Van driver
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Irvine Hurst, situate at Ardgowan near Oamaru
Folio	97/3541
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Mr. Fred. W. Greenwood (Church of Christ)

1922

14 August 1897

John Gordon Allan
Ann Jane Gibson

John Gordon Allan
Ann Jane Gibson
💍 1897/2283

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

49
28

Enfield
Papa Kaio

15 years
28 years

At the house of Mr. James Gibson, known as Springfield at Papa Kaio

97/3538

14 August 1897

Rev. John Steven (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1922
Date of Notice	14 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon Allan	Ann Jane Gibson
	💍 1897/2283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	49	28
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Papa Kaio
Length of Residence	15 years	28 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. James Gibson, known as Springfield at Papa Kaio
Folio	97/3538
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1923

16 August 1897

David Murdie Anderson
Jessie Joines

David Murdie Anderson
Jessie Joiner
💍 1897/2302

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
21

Ngapara
Ngapara

3 years
10 years

At the house of Mr. George Joines, situate at Ngapara

97/3543

16 August 1897

Rev. James Mandring (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1923
Date of Notice	16 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Murdie Anderson	Jessie Joines
BDM Match (96%)	David Murdie Anderson	Jessie Joiner
	💍 1897/2302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. George Joines, situate at Ngapara
Folio	97/3543
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Mandring (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1924

16 August 1897

James Meikle
Isabella Mattinson

James Meikle
Isabella Mattinson
💍 1897/2284

Widower
Spinster

Butcher
Housekeeper

37
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

19 years
18 months

At the house of Mrs. Isabella Mattinson, situate at Richmond

97/3539

16 August 1897

Rev. John Steven (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1924
Date of Notice	16 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Meikle	Isabella Mattinson
	💍 1897/2284
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Housekeeper
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	19 years	18 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs. Isabella Mattinson, situate at Richmond
Folio	97/3539
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

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 1903. 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).