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 985

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar H. M. Maell

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

2015

3 June 1899

William Herbert Brown
Winifred Hepburn Barr

William Herbert Brown
Winifred Hepburn Barr
💍 1899/2517

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

25
26

Oamaru
Dunedin

2½ years

At the house of Mr. Sarah Barr situate at London Street Dunedin

99/2485

3 June 1899

Rev. Wm. Saunders (Congregational Independent)

No	2015
Date of Notice	3 June 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Brown	Winifred Hepburn Barr
	💍 1899/2517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2½ years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Sarah Barr situate at London Street Dunedin
Folio	99/2485
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Saunders (Congregational Independent)

2016

6 June 1899

St. John McKean Buckley
Frances May Miller

St John McLean Buckley
Frances May Miller
💍 1899/2638

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

29
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

8 years
26 years

At St. Luke's Church at Oamaru

99/2585

6 June 1899

Rev. Algernon Gifford (Church of England)

No	2016
Date of Notice	6 June 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	St. John McKean Buckley	Frances May Miller
BDM Match (96%)	St John McLean Buckley	Frances May Miller
	💍 1899/2638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	8 years	26 years
Marriage Place	At St. Luke's Church at Oamaru
Folio	99/2585
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. Algernon Gifford (Church of England)

2017

6 June 1899

Edward Francis Kearns
Sarah Nash

Edward Francis Kearns
Sarah Nash
💍 1899/2774

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic servant

22
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

22 years
5 years

At the Roman Catholic Church at Reed Street Oamaru

99/2734

6 June 1899

Very Rev. John Mackay (Roman Catholic Church)

No	2017
Date of Notice	6 June 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Francis Kearns	Sarah Nash
	💍 1899/2774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic servant
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church at Reed Street Oamaru
Folio	99/2734
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1899
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. John Mackay (Roman Catholic Church)

2018

6 June 1899

Alexander Bowden
Christina McKenzie

Alexander Bowden
Christina McKenzie
💍 1899/2639

Alexander Coutts
Agnes McKenzie
💍 1900/2663

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron-moulder
Parlouress

23
21

Oamaru
Pukeuri, Oamaru

8 days
11 months

At the house of Mr. John McKenzie at Pukeuri

99/2586

6 June 1899

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

No	2018
Date of Notice	6 June 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Bowden	Christina McKenzie
	💍 1899/2639
BDM Match (62%)	Alexander Coutts	Agnes McKenzie
	💍 1900/2663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron-moulder	Parlouress
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Pukeuri, Oamaru
Length of Residence	8 days	11 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. John McKenzie at Pukeuri
Folio	99/2586
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Stevens (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

2019

29 June 1899

Edmund Charles Trehey
Kathleen O'Brien

Edmund Charles Trehey
Kathleen OBrien
💍 1899/2775

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

28
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
17 years

At the Roman Catholic Church at Reed Street Oamaru

99/2735

29 June 1899

Rev. Michael Howard (Roman Catholic Church)

No	2019
Date of Notice	29 June 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Charles Trehey	Kathleen O'Brien
BDM Match (97%)	Edmund Charles Trehey	Kathleen OBrien
	💍 1899/2775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	17 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church at Reed Street Oamaru
Folio	99/2735
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 June 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. Michael Howard (Roman Catholic Church)

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).