Intentions to Marry, 1898 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840413, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 27 2025

1898 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 957

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1898 Registrar Henry Hawthorne Grant Ralfe

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

1955

5 April 1898

Hubert Charles Barrett
Amy Greenough Baislow

Hubert Charles Barrett
Amy Greenough Bairstow
💍 1898/1689

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

28
20

Ashburton
Oamaru

3 weeks

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Ashburton

98/1932

Enoch Paul Baislow, father

5 April 1898

Registrar of Marriages at Ashburton

No	1955
Date of Notice	5 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Charles Barrett	Amy Greenough Baislow
BDM Match (95%)	Hubert Charles Barrett	Amy Greenough Bairstow
	💍 1898/1689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Oamaru
Length of Residence		3 weeks
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Ashburton
Folio	98/1932
Consent	Enoch Paul Baislow, father
Date of Certificate	5 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages at Ashburton

1956

5 April 1898

James Mitchell
Agnes Elizabeth Buist

James Mitchell
Agnes Elizabeth Petterkin Buist
💍 1898/2290

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercer

26
27

Christchurch
Oamaru

12 days

At the house of Mr. Agnes Buist, private, at 37 Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

98/2343

5 April 1898

Rev. William Wright (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1956
Date of Notice	5 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mitchell	Agnes Elizabeth Buist
BDM Match (84%)	James Mitchell	Agnes Elizabeth Petterkin Buist
	💍 1898/2290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercer
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Oamaru
Length of Residence		12 days
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Agnes Buist, private, at 37 Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	98/2343
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1957

7 April 1898

Albert Joseph Grave
Agnes Miller McQueen Mackay

Albert Joseph Grave
Agnes Millar McQueen MacKay
💍 1898/2293

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister & Solicitor

26
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

26 years
18 years

At St. Paul's Presbyterian Church at Oamaru

98/2347

7 April 1898

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

No	1957
Date of Notice	7 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Joseph Grave	Agnes Miller McQueen Mackay
BDM Match (96%)	Albert Joseph Grave	Agnes Millar McQueen MacKay
	💍 1898/2293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister & Solicitor
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	26 years	18 years
Marriage Place	At St. Paul's Presbyterian Church at Oamaru
Folio	98/2347
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1958

19 April 1898

John Paterson
Margaret Bailey

John Paterson
Margaret Bailey
💍 1898/2141

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

33
33

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
3 years

At the house of Mr. Gavin Paterson, private, at Wansbeck Street, Oamaru

98/2344

19 April 1898

Rev. William Wright (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1958
Date of Notice	19 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Paterson	Margaret Bailey
	💍 1898/2141
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Gavin Paterson, private, at Wansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	98/2344
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1959

25 April 1898

Charles William Bradshaw
Ellen Harwood

Charles William Bradshaw
Ellen Harwood
💍 1898/2286

Widower
Spinster

Mariner

30
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
11 days

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

98/2341

Catherine Rendall, mother

25 April 1898

H. H. G. Ralfe, Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

No	1959
Date of Notice	25 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Bradshaw	Ellen Harwood
	💍 1898/2286
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	11 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
Folio	98/2341
Consent	Catherine Rendall, mother
Date of Certificate	25 April 1898
Officiating Minister	H. H. G. Ralfe, Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

1960

27 April 1898

David Russell
Janet Elizabeth Wilson

Daniel Russell
Janet Elizabeth Wilson
💍 1898/2292

Bachelor
Spinster

Vandriver

27
19

Ngapara
Oamaru

2 1/2 years
4 months

At the house of Mr. Henry Howe, private, at Meadowbank, Oamaru

98/2346

William Wilson, father

27 April 1898

Rev. William Wright (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1960
Date of Notice	27 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Russell	Janet Elizabeth Wilson
BDM Match (89%)	Daniel Russell	Janet Elizabeth Wilson
	💍 1898/2292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Vandriver
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Henry Howe, private, at Meadowbank, Oamaru
Folio	98/2346
Consent	William Wilson, father
Date of Certificate	27 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright (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).