Intentions to Marry, 1898 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840414, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 27 2025

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

Page 926

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1898 Registrar Henry H. G. 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

1982

15 November 1898

Walter Thomas Wright
Christina Jane Robb

Walter Thomas Wright
Christina Jane Robb
💍 1898/4891

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
19

Oamaru
Oamaru

25 years
3 days

At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

98/4837

William Brodie Robb, father

18 November 1898

Henry H. G. Ralfe, Registrar of Marriages Oamaru

No	1982
Date of Notice	15 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Wright	Christina Jane Robb
	💍 1898/4891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	25 years	3 days
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
Folio	98/4837
Consent	William Brodie Robb, father
Date of Certificate	18 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Henry H. G. Ralfe, Registrar of Marriages Oamaru

1983

15 November 1898

James Morrison Renton
Sarah Ann Watson

James Morrison Renton
Sarah Ann Watson
💍 1898/4893

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

35
27

Elderslie
Weston

3 1/2 years
4 years

At the house of Mr. George Watson situate

98/4842

19 November 1898

Rev. J. Standring, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

No	1983
Date of Notice	15 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Morrison Renton	Sarah Ann Watson
	💍 1898/4893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Elderslie	Weston
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. George Watson situate
Folio	98/4842
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Standring, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

1984

15 November 1898

Herbert William Gordon
Mary Curran

Herbert William Gordon
Mary Curran
💍 1898/5055

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

37
22

Oamaru
Reidston

1 week
20 years

At the Roman Catholic Church at Reid Street Oamaru

98/5046

19 November 1898

Very Rev. J. MacKay, Roman Catholic Church

No	1984
Date of Notice	15 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Gordon	Mary Curran
	💍 1898/5055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Reidston
Length of Residence	1 week	20 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church at Reid Street Oamaru
Folio	98/5046
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. MacKay, Roman Catholic Church

1985

23 November 1898

Richard Milne
Mary Henderson

Richard Milne
Mary Henderson
💍 1898/4892

Archibald Meikle
Barbara Henderson
💍 1899/1162

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Laborer

30
27

Papakaio
Awamoko

30 years
7 years

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

98/4838

23 November 1898

Henry H. G. Ralfe, Registrar of Marriages Oamaru

No	1985
Date of Notice	23 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Milne	Mary Henderson
	💍 1898/4892
BDM Match (60%)	Archibald Meikle	Barbara Henderson
	💍 1899/1162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Laborer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Papakaio	Awamoko
Length of Residence	30 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
Folio	98/4838
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Henry H. G. Ralfe, Registrar of Marriages Oamaru

1986

23 November 1898

Alexander Douglas Murdoch
Barbara Charlotte Agnes Margaret Euphemia Wallace

Alexander Douglas
Barbara Charlotte Agnes Margaret Euphemia Wallace Murdoch
💍 1898/2646

Bachelor
Spinster

Doctor of Medicine

30
36

Oamaru
Oamaru

20 months
5 years

At St. Luke's Church at Oamaru

98/4840

23 November 1898

Ven. Archdeacon Gould, Church of England

No	1986
Date of Notice	23 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Douglas Murdoch	Barbara Charlotte Agnes Margaret Euphemia Wallace
BDM Match (77%)	Alexander Douglas	Barbara Charlotte Agnes Margaret Euphemia Wallace Murdoch
	💍 1898/2646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Doctor of Medicine
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	20 months	5 years
Marriage Place	At St. Luke's Church at Oamaru
Folio	98/4840
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Gould, Church of England

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).