Intentions to Marry, 1911 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840447, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 725

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar Alexander Adam Quair

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

2913

10 January 1911

John Arthur Frederick Howard
Mary Bertrand Taylor

John Arthur Frederick Howard
Mary Bertrand Taylor
💍 1911/2047

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
30

Windsor
Windsor

4 years
30 years

Residence of Richard Taylor, Windsor

11/1475

16 January 1911

Rev. Alexander Farthing

No	2913
Date of Notice	10 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Arthur Frederick Howard	Mary Bertrand Taylor
	💍 1911/2047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Windsor	Windsor
Length of Residence	4 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard Taylor, Windsor
Folio	11/1475
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Farthing

2914

23 January 1911

John Cross O'Neill
Flora Ethelwyn Rivers

John Cross McNeill
Flora Ethelwyn Rivers
💍 1911/5329

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer
Tailoress

29
31

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 years

Residence of Mr. O'Neill, Rivers, Tweed Lane, Oamaru

11/3953

23 January 1911

Rev. R. J. Porter

No	2914
Date of Notice	23 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cross O'Neill	Flora Ethelwyn Rivers
BDM Match (94%)	John Cross McNeill	Flora Ethelwyn Rivers
	💍 1911/5329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer	Tailoress
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. O'Neill, Rivers, Tweed Lane, Oamaru
Folio	11/3953
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Porter

2915

7 February 1911

George Cruppelar
Mary Susan Robinson

George Guppelaar
May Susan Robinson
💍 1911/2049

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

24 years
20 years

Oamaru
Awamoa

24 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

11/1476

Rose Robinson, mother

7 February 1911

Rev. Monsignor John Mackay

No	2915
Date of Notice	7 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cruppelar	Mary Susan Robinson
BDM Match (88%)	George Guppelaar	May Susan Robinson
	💍 1911/2049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	24 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Awamoa
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	11/1476
Consent	Rose Robinson, mother
Date of Certificate	7 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Monsignor John Mackay

2916

7 February 1911

George William Hutson
Emma Mabel Taylor

George William Hutson
Emma Mabel Taylor
💍 1911/78

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

27
17

Oamaru
Oamaru

7 years
10 years

Residence of Robert Jamieson, Eden Street, Oamaru

11/1671

Susan Jamieson, mother

7 February 1911

Rev. William Wright

No	2916
Date of Notice	7 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Hutson	Emma Mabel Taylor
	💍 1911/78
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Jamieson, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	11/1671
Consent	Susan Jamieson, mother
Date of Certificate	7 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright

2917

14 February 1911

William Reid Douglas
Mary Connell

William Reid Douglas
Mary Connell
💍 1911/1957

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

25
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

14 months
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Oamaru

11/1491

14 February 1911

Rev. Monsignor John Mackay

No	2917
Date of Notice	14 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Reid Douglas	Mary Connell
	💍 1911/1957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	14 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Oamaru
Folio	11/1491
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Monsignor John Mackay

2918

17 February 1911

William Brown
Eveline Amy Godwin

William Brown
Eveline Amy Godwin
💍 1911/4368

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

39
33

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 years
27 years

St. Luke's Church, Oamaru

11/4111

17 February 1911

Rev. J. G. S. Bartlett

No	2918
Date of Notice	17 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brown	Eveline Amy Godwin
	💍 1911/4368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Oamaru
Folio	11/4111
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Bartlett

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).