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 700

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1908 Registrar R. P. Mera

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

2696

10 June 1908

William Jensen
Margaret Fraser

William Jensen
Margaret Fraser
💍 1908/5593

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

28
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
9 years

The Church, Ardgowan

08/4130

10 June 1908

Rev. T. H. Roseveare

No	2696
Date of Notice	10 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jensen	Margaret Fraser
	💍 1908/5593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	The Church, Ardgowan
Folio	08/4130
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Roseveare

2697

11 June 1908

Angus McNaughton
Jessie McRae

Angus McNaughton
Jessie McRae
💍 1908/5594

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

37
23

Whitston
Whitston

6 years
4 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

08/4131

11 June 1908

Rev. T. H. Roseveare

No	2697
Date of Notice	11 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus McNaughton	Jessie McRae
	💍 1908/5594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Whitston	Whitston
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	08/4131
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Roseveare

2698

15 June 1908

Samuel Nelson
Mary Campbell

Samuel Wilson
Mary Campbell
💍 1908/5595

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager

57
32

Whitston
Weston

5 years
32 years

Residence of Mr. James McKenzie, of South Oamaru

08/4132

15 June 1908

Rev. F. H. Roseveare

No	2698
Date of Notice	15 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Nelson	Mary Campbell
BDM Match (92%)	Samuel Wilson	Mary Campbell
	💍 1908/5595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager
Age	57	32
Dwelling Place	Whitston	Weston
Length of Residence	5 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. James McKenzie, of South Oamaru
Folio	08/4132
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Roseveare

2699

17 June 1908

John William Harkness
Elspeth Jane Polson

John Tinline Harkness
Elspeth Jane Polson
💍 1908/5584

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

41
36

Enfield
Enfield

3 days
6 months

Residence of Mrs. Elspeth Polson, at Enfield

08/4122

17 June 1908

Rev. D. Jamieson

No	2699
Date of Notice	17 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Harkness	Elspeth Jane Polson
BDM Match (91%)	John Tinline Harkness	Elspeth Jane Polson
	💍 1908/5584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	41	36
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Elspeth Polson, at Enfield
Folio	08/4122
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Jamieson

2700

20 June 1908

James Grant
Sarah Ann Duncan

James Grant
Sarah Ann Duncan
💍 1908/5623

James Gorrie
Ann Duncan
💍 1908/4583

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

29
35

Boundary Creek
Boundary Creek

4 1/2 years
35 years

Residence of Hon. F. Y. Duncan, at Boundary Creek

08/4138

20 June 1908

Rev. Jno. Steven

No	2700
Date of Notice	20 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Grant	Sarah Ann Duncan
	💍 1908/5623
BDM Match (65%)	James Gorrie	Ann Duncan
	💍 1908/4583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	29	35
Dwelling Place	Boundary Creek	Boundary Creek
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Hon. F. Y. Duncan, at Boundary Creek
Folio	08/4138
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jno. 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).