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 959

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1898 Registrar N. W. Ward

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

1966

31 May 1898

William Gibson
Sibylla Lane

William Gibson
Sibylla Lane
💍 1898/2294

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

24
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

24 years
21 years

At the house of Mr. E. G. Lane, situate at Tees Street, Oamaru

98/2348

31 May 1898

Rev. Josiah Ward, Wesleyan Church

No	1966
Date of Notice	31 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gibson	Sibylla Lane
	💍 1898/2294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. E. G. Lane, situate at Tees Street, Oamaru
Folio	98/2348
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Josiah Ward, Wesleyan Church

1967

6 June 1898

Richard Henry Wray
Margaret Mary Jones

Richard Henry Wray
Margaret Mary Jones
💍 1898/2741

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman

28
19

Oamaru
Georgetown, Oamaru

23 years
2 months

At the Roman Catholic Church at Reed Street, Oamaru

98/2581

John Jones, Father

6 June 1898

Very Rev. John Mackay, Roman Catholic Church

No	1967
Date of Notice	6 June 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Wray	Margaret Mary Jones
	💍 1898/2741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Georgetown, Oamaru
Length of Residence	23 years	2 months
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church at Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	98/2581
Consent	John Jones, Father
Date of Certificate	6 June 1898
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. John Mackay, Roman Catholic Church

1968

21 June 1898

John George Howard Samples
Marion Harriett Keddell

John George Howard Sumpter
Marion Harriet Keddell
💍 1898/2727

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

27
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

27 years
5 years

At St. Luke's Church at Oamaru

98/2355

21 June 1898

Ven. Archdeacon Gould, Church of England

No	1968
Date of Notice	21 June 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Howard Samples	Marion Harriett Keddell
BDM Match (92%)	John George Howard Sumpter	Marion Harriet Keddell
	💍 1898/2727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	27 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At St. Luke's Church at Oamaru
Folio	98/2355
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1898
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Gould, Church of England

1969

21 June 1898

James Sansom
Margaret Pollock

James Sansom
Margaret Pollock
💍 1898/2297

Widower
Widow

Farmer

48
35

Ardgowan
Ardgowan

2 years
14 years

At the residence of Margaret Pollock, Ardgowan

98/2357

21 June 1898

Rev. A. Dewdney, Baptist Church

No	1969
Date of Notice	21 June 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sansom	Margaret Pollock
	💍 1898/2297
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	48	35
Dwelling Place	Ardgowan	Ardgowan
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Margaret Pollock, Ardgowan
Folio	98/2357
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Dewdney, Baptist Church

1970

30 June 1898

John Wharton
Catherine McPherson

John Wharton
Catherine McPherson
💍 1898/2453

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman

29
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

5 days
3 days

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

98/2342

30 June 1898

Mr. H. H. G. Raefer, Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

No	1970
Date of Notice	30 June 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wharton	Catherine McPherson
	💍 1898/2453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
Folio	98/2342
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1898
Officiating Minister	Mr. H. H. G. Raefer, Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

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).