Intentions to Marry, 1899 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840415, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington (now located in the National Library reading room), September 5 2025

1899 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 453

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar Henry Hawthorne Grant 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

1989

4 January 1899

James Scott Dalgety
Janet Doak

James Scott Dalgety
Janet Doak
💍 1899/1138

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

50
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
24 years

At the house of Mr. William Doak, private at Yare Street, Oamaru

99/1252

4 January 1899

Rev. R. J. Porter (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1989
Date of Notice	4 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Scott Dalgety	Janet Doak
	💍 1899/1138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	50	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	24 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. William Doak, private at Yare Street, Oamaru
Folio	99/1252
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Porter (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1990

5 January 1899

Alexander Shand
Isabella Scott Meek

Alexander Shand
Isabella Scott Meek
💍 1899/1174

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
29

Enfield
Enfield

4 years
19 years

At the house of Mr. William Meek, private at Enfield known as Teanaraki Farm

99/1068

5 January 1899

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

No	1990
Date of Notice	5 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Shand	Isabella Scott Meek
	💍 1899/1174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. William Meek, private at Enfield known as Teanaraki Farm
Folio	99/1068
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Standing (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1991

5 January 1899

Henry Shallard Anderson
Jane Swanson Eddington

Henry Shallard Anderson
Jean Swanston Eddington
💍 1899/1175

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Servant

28
25

Oamaru
Kakanni N.

28 years
5 years

At the house of Mr. John Eddington, private at Kakanni

99/1069

5 January 1899

Rev. G. D. Thomson (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1991
Date of Notice	5 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Shallard Anderson	Jane Swanson Eddington
BDM Match (94%)	Henry Shallard Anderson	Jean Swanston Eddington
	💍 1899/1175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Servant
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Kakanni N.
Length of Residence	28 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. John Eddington, private at Kakanni
Folio	99/1069
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. D. Thomson (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1992

7 January 1899

Alexander Riddell
Margaret Milne
formerly Wilson

Alexander Riddell
Margaret Milne
💍 1899/1171

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Housekeeper

52
54

Papakaio
Papakaio

17 years
23 years

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

99/1066

7 January 1899

Henry H. G. Raefe (Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru)

No	1992
Date of Notice	7 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Riddell	Margaret Milne formerly Wilson
	💍 1899/1171
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	52	54
Dwelling Place	Papakaio	Papakaio
Length of Residence	17 years	23 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
Folio	99/1066
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Henry H. G. Raefe (Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru)

1993

19 January 1899

William Dethies Conrad Christie
Lilian Constance Brown

William Tirtins Conrad Christie
Lilian Constance Brown
💍 1899/5500

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

26
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

16 years
9 months

At the house of Mr. & Mrs. Jane Brown, private off Tees Street, Oamaru

99/1253

19 January 1899

Rev. R. J. Porter (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1993
Date of Notice	19 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dethies Conrad Christie	Lilian Constance Brown
BDM Match (92%)	William Tirtins Conrad Christie	Lilian Constance Brown
	💍 1899/5500
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	16 years	9 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. & Mrs. Jane Brown, private off Tees Street, Oamaru
Folio	99/1253
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Porter (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).