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 983

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar Henry Hawthorn Gran 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

2003

10 April 1899

William Robertson
Joriwai Matenga

William Robertson
Toriwai Matenga
💍 1899/2611

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

38
33

Oamaru
Oamaru

1 year
1 year

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

99/2581

10 April 1899

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

No	2003
Date of Notice	10 April 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robertson	Joriwai Matenga
BDM Match (97%)	William Robertson	Toriwai Matenga
	💍 1899/2611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru
Folio	99/2581
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1899
Officiating Minister	H. H. G. Raefe, Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

2004

11 April 1899

John William Green
Bessie Fredericker Marcel

John William Preen
Bessie Fredricker Marcel
💍 1899/2612

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Servant

24
32

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
3 days

At the Primitive Methodist Church at South Oamaru

99/2582

11 April 1899

Rev. John Nixon (Primitive Methodist Connexion)

No	2004
Date of Notice	11 April 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Green	Bessie Fredericker Marcel
BDM Match (95%)	John William Preen	Bessie Fredricker Marcel
	💍 1899/2612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	24	32
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the Primitive Methodist Church at South Oamaru
Folio	99/2582
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Nixon (Primitive Methodist Connexion)

2005

11 April 1899

Robert Ross Bourie
Elizabeth Thompson

Robert Ross Bowie
Elizabeth Thompson
💍 1899/2631

Peter Nelson
Elizabeth Thompson
💍 1899/3995

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

25
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
17 years

At St. Luke's Church at Oamaru

99/2584

11 April 1899

Ven. Archdeacon H. G. Gould (Church of England)

No	2005
Date of Notice	11 April 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ross Bourie	Elizabeth Thompson
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Ross Bowie	Elizabeth Thompson
	💍 1899/2631
BDM Match (64%)	Peter Nelson	Elizabeth Thompson
	💍 1899/3995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	17 years
Marriage Place	At St. Luke's Church at Oamaru
Folio	99/2584
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1899
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon H. G. Gould (Church of England)

2006

17 April 1899

George Charles Brown
Frances Sarah Pine

George Charles Brown
Frances Sarah Pine
💍 1899/2749

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

20 years
17 years

At the house of Mrs. Ann Jane Brown situate at Jeal Street, Oamaru

99/2708

17 April 1899

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

No	2006
Date of Notice	17 April 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Charles Brown	Frances Sarah Pine
	💍 1899/2749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	20 years	17 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs. Ann Jane Brown situate at Jeal Street, Oamaru
Folio	99/2708
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Porter (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

2007

25 April 1899

Alexander Cuthbert Hubbard
Emily Hambley

Alexander Cuthbert Hubbard
Emily Hambley
💍 1899/2620

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

36
30

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 years
7 years

At Salvation Army Barracks at Thames Street, Oamaru

99/2583

25 April 1899

Rev. John Nixon (Primitive Methodist Connexion)

No	2007
Date of Notice	25 April 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Cuthbert Hubbard	Emily Hambley
	💍 1899/2620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At Salvation Army Barracks at Thames Street, Oamaru
Folio	99/2583
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Nixon (Primitive Methodist Connexion)

2008

8 May 1899

Frank Fox
Margaret Ann Norris

Frank Fox
Margaret Ann Norris
💍 1899/2640

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

21
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 years
20 years

At the house of Mr. Thomas Norris situate at Mersey Street, Oamaru

99/2587

Thomas Norris, father

8 May 1899

Rev. A. Dewdney, Baptist Minister

No	2008
Date of Notice	8 May 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Fox	Margaret Ann Norris
	💍 1899/2640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Thomas Norris situate at Mersey Street, Oamaru
Folio	99/2587
Consent	Thomas Norris, father
Date of Certificate	8 May 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Dewdney, Baptist Minister

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).