Intentions to Marry, 1909 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840441, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 685

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar Alexander Adam Main

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

2773

18 May 1909

Alexander Meikle
Mary Ellen Flynn

Alexander Meikle
Mary Ellen Flynn
💍 1909/2851

Bachelor
Spinster

Locominer

27
35

Oamaru
Aragowan, Oamaru

1 month
2 weeks

In the residence of Rev. R. J. Porter

09/3633

18 May 1909

Rev. R. J. Porter

No	2773
Date of Notice	18 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Meikle	Mary Ellen Flynn
	💍 1909/2851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Locominer
Age	27	35
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Aragowan, Oamaru
Length of Residence	1 month	2 weeks
Marriage Place	In the residence of Rev. R. J. Porter
Folio	09/3633
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Porter

2774

27 May 1909

Edgar Arnold Foote
Jane Elizabeth Bakin Amies

Edgar Arnold Fox
Jane Elizabeth Bakin Annie
💍 1909/2852

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Saleswoman

24
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

24 years
23 years

In the residence of John Amies, Derwent Street, Oamaru

09/3634

27 May 1909

Rev. R. J. Porter

No	2774
Date of Notice	27 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Arnold Foote	Jane Elizabeth Bakin Amies
BDM Match (86%)	Edgar Arnold Fox	Jane Elizabeth Bakin Annie
	💍 1909/2852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Saleswoman
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of John Amies, Derwent Street, Oamaru
Folio	09/3634
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Porter

2775

1 June 1909

Andrew Hay
Maria Lewis

Andrew Hay
Maria Lewis
💍 1909/2863

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

26
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

12 years
About 8 years

In the Baptist Church, Severn Street, Oamaru

09/3644

1 June 1909

Rev. F. E. Buckingham

No	2775
Date of Notice	1 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Hay	Maria Lewis
	💍 1909/2863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	12 years	About 8 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, Severn Street, Oamaru
Folio	09/3644
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. E. Buckingham

2776

14 June 1909

William Robert Chaplin Whyte
Alice Maud Raven

William Robert Chaplin Whyte
Alice Maud Raven
💍 1909/4114

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

23 years
27 years

Oamaru
Oamaru

23 years
3 months

In St. Luke's Church, Oamaru

09/5411

14 June 1909

Rev. J. E. A. Bartlett

No	2776
Date of Notice	14 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Chaplin Whyte	Alice Maud Raven
	💍 1909/4114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	23 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	23 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In St. Luke's Church, Oamaru
Folio	09/5411
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. A. Bartlett

2777

16 June 1909

John Fraser
Harriet Lee

John Fraser
Harriet Lee
💍 1909/2854

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

23
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

8 or 9 years
10 years

In the residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Lee, Hansbeck Street, Oamaru

09/3636

16 June 1909

Rev. F. N. Griffin

No	2777
Date of Notice	16 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fraser	Harriet Lee
	💍 1909/2854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	8 or 9 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Lee, Hansbeck Street, Oamaru
Folio	09/3636
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Griffin

2778

26 June 1909

Frank Crawshaw
Isabella Jessie Ross

Frank Craneshaw
Isabella Jessie Ross
💍 1909/2862

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

23 years
11 years

At the residence of John Ross, Greta Street, Oamaru

09/3643

26 June 1909

Rev. Wm. Wright

No	2778
Date of Notice	26 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Crawshaw	Isabella Jessie Ross
BDM Match (93%)	Frank Craneshaw	Isabella Jessie Ross
	💍 1909/2862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	23 years	11 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of John Ross, Greta Street, Oamaru
Folio	09/3643
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Wright

2779

28 June 1909

John Lawrence Polson
Ellen Padkin

John Lawrence Polson
Ellen Padkin
💍 1909/2853

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
30

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
20 years

In the Eveline Church, North Road, Oamaru

09/3635

28 June 1909

Rev. R. J. Porter

No	2779
Date of Notice	28 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lawrence Polson	Ellen Padkin
	💍 1909/2853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Eveline Church, North Road, Oamaru
Folio	09/3635
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Porter

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).