Intentions to Marry, 1908 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840438, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1908 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1908a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1908b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1908c).

Page 711

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1908 Registrar Alfred Maidstone Pearson, Deputy Registrar of Marriages

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

2736

4 December 1908

Ernest Joseph Abbey Jones
Millicent Helen Potter

Ernest Joseph Abbey Jones
Millicent Helen Potter
💍 1908/3518

Bachelor
Spinster

Newspaper Manager

38 years
21 years

Oamaru
Oamaru

6 years
12 years

At St. Luke's Church

08/8347

4 December 1908

Rev. J. E. S. Bartleth

No	2736
Date of Notice	4 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Joseph Abbey Jones	Millicent Helen Potter
	💍 1908/3518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Newspaper Manager
Age	38 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	At St. Luke's Church
Folio	08/8347
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. S. Bartleth

2744

25 December 1908

Robert Macpherson Campbell
Elizabeth Pitcairn Campbell

Robert McPherson
Elizabeth Pitcairn Campbell
💍 1908/3312

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27 years
23 years

Richmond
Richmond

3 days
3 days

Residence

08/8736

25 December 1908

Rev. John Steven

No	2744
Date of Notice	25 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Macpherson Campbell	Elizabeth Pitcairn Campbell
BDM Match (79%)	Robert McPherson	Elizabeth Pitcairn Campbell
	💍 1908/3312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Richmond
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence
Folio	08/8736
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven

2745

25 December 1908

Henry Brown Williams
Eliza Macpherson Williams

Henry Brown Williams
Eliza McPherson
💍 1908/3313

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

29 years
30 years

Dunedin
Richmond

3 days
3 days

Mrs. G. Macpherson's Residence

08/8737

Margaret June Macpherson, mother

25 December 1908

Rev. John Steven

No	2745
Date of Notice	25 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Brown Williams	Eliza Macpherson Williams
BDM Match (78%)	Henry Brown Williams	Eliza McPherson
	💍 1908/3313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	29 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Richmond
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Mrs. G. Macpherson's Residence
Folio	08/8737
Consent	Margaret June Macpherson, mother
Date of Certificate	25 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven

2746

28 December 1908

James Fraser Beardsmore
Edith Beardsmore

James Fraser
Edith Beardsmore
💍 1909/6793

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27 years
31 years

Peebles
Georgetown

3 days
3 days

At the residence of Allen Beardsmore

09/1560

28 December 1908

Rev. John Steven

No	2746
Date of Notice	28 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Fraser Beardsmore	Edith Beardsmore
BDM Match (76%)	James Fraser	Edith Beardsmore
	💍 1909/6793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Peebles	Georgetown
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the residence of Allen Beardsmore
Folio	09/1560
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven

2747

29 December 1908

Patrick Swanson
Laura Jordan

No corresponding marriage registration located. Note from the named minister Rev Johyn Steven: "Dear Sir, some mistake somewhere, Have never even heard of such names as 'Swanson and Jordan'. Cannot imagine how such a mistake has originated. I never saw the parties. Yours very truly, John Steven".

Bachelor
Spinster

Wood Carver

26 years
24 years

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
4 years

Residence of David Herron, Oamaru

not known

29 December 1908

Rev. John Steven

No	2747
Date of Notice	29 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Swanson	Laura Jordan
	💍 No corresponding marriage registration located. Note from the named minister Rev Johyn Steven: "Dear Sir, some mistake somewhere, Have never even heard of such names as 'Swanson and Jordan'. Cannot imagine how such a mistake has originated. I never saw the parties. Yours very truly, John Steven".
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wood Carver
Age	26 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of David Herron, Oamaru
Folio	not known
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven

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 1908. 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).