Intentions to Marry, 1910 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840444, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1910 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1910a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1910b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1910c).

Page 690

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1910 Registrar Alexander Adam Mair

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

2850

27 April 1910

William Peter Millar
Annie Harrison

William Peter Millar
Annie Harrison
💍 1910/5883

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

24
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
23 years

In the residence of John Harrison, Beach Road Oamaru

10/5947

27 April 1910

Rev. R. J. Porter

No	2850
Date of Notice	27 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peter Millar	Annie Harrison
	💍 1910/5883
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of John Harrison, Beach Road Oamaru
Folio	10/5947
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Porter

2851

27 April 1910

Thomas Smith Shand
Margaret Gillespie Stevenson

Thomas Smith Shand
Margaret Gillespie Stevenson
💍 1910/3303

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

29
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

5 years
20 years

In the Columbia Church Oamaru

10/3489

27 April 1910

Rev. William Wright

No	2851
Date of Notice	27 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Smith Shand	Margaret Gillespie Stevenson
	💍 1910/3303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Columbia Church Oamaru
Folio	10/3489
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright

2852

29 April 1910

Samuel Ernest Talbot
Hilda Augusta Collis

Samuel Earnst Talbot
Hilda Augusta Collis
💍 1910/8455

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
24

Usual: Pleasant Point, Present: Oamaru
Fortification Oamaru

3 days
24 years

In St. Luke's Church Oamaru

10/8389

29 April 1910

Rev. D. Jamieson

No	2852
Date of Notice	29 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Ernest Talbot	Hilda Augusta Collis
BDM Match (95%)	Samuel Earnst Talbot	Hilda Augusta Collis
	💍 1910/8455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Usual: Pleasant Point, Present: Oamaru	Fortification Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	In St. Luke's Church Oamaru
Folio	10/8389
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Jamieson

2853

3 May 1910

Frederick William Godwin
Caroline Ellen McCallum

Frederick William Godwin
Caroline Glen McCallum
💍 1910/3975

Widower
Widow

Accountant

63
54

North Road Oamaru
Usual: Roslyn Dunedin, Present: Oamaru

26 years
4 days

At St. Luke's Church Oamaru

10/3896

3 May 1910

Rev. J. E. S. Bartlett

No	2853
Date of Notice	3 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Godwin	Caroline Ellen McCallum
BDM Match (96%)	Frederick William Godwin	Caroline Glen McCallum
	💍 1910/3975
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Accountant
Age	63	54
Dwelling Place	North Road Oamaru	Usual: Roslyn Dunedin, Present: Oamaru
Length of Residence	26 years	4 days
Marriage Place	At St. Luke's Church Oamaru
Folio	10/3896
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. S. Bartlett

2854

3 May 1910

George Arthur Collis
Mary Stewart Liken

George Arthur Collis
Mary Stewart Liken
💍 1910/8456

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
24

Oamaru
Oamaru

32 years
about 8 years

In the residence of Thomas Liken Pukerau

10/8859

3 May 1910

Rev. David Jamieson

No	2854
Date of Notice	3 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Collis	Mary Stewart Liken
	💍 1910/8456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	32 years	about 8 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Thomas Liken Pukerau
Folio	10/8859
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jamieson

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).