Intentions to Marry, 1912 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840450, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 662

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Alexander Juriss

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

3005

2 January 1912

Frederick Brocket
Agnes May Genge

Frederick Brocket
Agnes Mary Genge
💍 1912/420

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

45 years
29 years

Greenfield, Otago
Oamaru

4 days
9 years

The Church of Christ at Eden St, Oamaru

12/1120

3 January 1912

Rev. W. W. Wright

No	3005
Date of Notice	2 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Brocket	Agnes May Genge
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Brocket	Agnes Mary Genge
	💍 1912/420
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	45 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Greenfield, Otago	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	9 years
Marriage Place	The Church of Christ at Eden St, Oamaru
Folio	12/1120
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Wright

3006

13 January 1912

Henry Fairfax Quande
Winifred Olga Jamieson

Henry Fairfax Maude
Winifred Olga Jamieson
💍 1912/415

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent
Domestic Duties

31 years
25 years

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 years
3 years

St. Luke's Church at Oamaru

12/1114

13 January 1912

Rev. J. D. Russell

No	3006
Date of Notice	13 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Fairfax Quande	Winifred Olga Jamieson
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Fairfax Maude	Winifred Olga Jamieson
	💍 1912/415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	31 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church at Oamaru
Folio	12/1114
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell

3007

15 January 1912

Sampson Carlyon
Emma Rusbatch

Sampson Carlyon
Emma Rusbatch
💍 1912/427

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Housekeeper

58
48

Oamaru
Oamaru

37 years in the house of Mrs. Rusbatch
38 years, Tyre Street

Residence of Mrs. Rusbatch, Tyre Street, Oamaru

12/1126

15 January 1912

Rev. W. J. Williams

No	3007
Date of Notice	15 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sampson Carlyon	Emma Rusbatch
	💍 1912/427
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	58	48
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	37 years in the house of Mrs. Rusbatch	38 years, Tyre Street
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Rusbatch, Tyre Street, Oamaru
Folio	12/1126
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Williams

3008

16 January 1912

John Grant
Isabella McKenzie

John Grant
Isabella McKenzie
💍 1912/1690

Widower
Spinster

Draper
Tailoress

39
30

Oamaru
Pukeuri

3 days in the house of Mr. John McKenzie
6 weeks at Pukeuri

Residence of Mr. John McKenzie at Pukeuri

12/1425

16 January 1912

Rev. John Stevens

No	3008
Date of Notice	16 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Grant	Isabella McKenzie
	💍 1912/1690
	💍 1912/1690
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Tailoress
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Pukeuri
Length of Residence	3 days in the house of Mr. John McKenzie	6 weeks at Pukeuri
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John McKenzie at Pukeuri
Folio	12/1425
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Stevens

3009

19 January 1912

George Meldrum Wilson
Martha Genge

George Meldrum Wilson
Martha Genge
💍 1912/418

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal & Produce Merchant
Domestic duties

29
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

6 years
18 years

The Church of Christ at Oamaru

12/1118

19 January 1912

Rev. H. G. Harward

No	3009
Date of Notice	19 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Meldrum Wilson	Martha Genge
	💍 1912/418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal & Produce Merchant	Domestic duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Church of Christ at Oamaru
Folio	12/1118
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Harward

3010

20 January 1912

Robert Rodger Thomas Meldrum
Jean Learmouth

Robert Rodger Thomas Meldrum
Jean Learmanth
💍 1912/419

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Servant

25
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days in the residence of Mr. G. Broad
4 days, Mersey Street

Residence of Mr. G. Broad, Mersey Street, Oamaru

12/1119

20 January 1912

Rev. W. W. Wright

No	3010
Date of Notice	20 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Rodger Thomas Meldrum	Jean Learmouth
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Rodger Thomas Meldrum	Jean Learmanth
	💍 1912/419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Servant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days in the residence of Mr. G. Broad	4 days, Mersey Street
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. Broad, Mersey Street, Oamaru
Folio	12/1119
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Wright

3011

23 January 1912

William McPhee
Ethel Jane Barry

William McPhee
Ethel Jane Barry
💍 1912/2012

William Holland
Ethel Lydia Barry
💍 1912/8401

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

34 years
27 years

Awamoko
Georgetown

Life
Two years

The Roman Catholic Church, Oamaru

12/1699

23 January 1912

Rev. Arthur Burger

No	3011
Date of Notice	23 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McPhee	Ethel Jane Barry
	💍 1912/2012
BDM Match (62%)	William Holland	Ethel Lydia Barry
	💍 1912/8401
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	34 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Awamoko	Georgetown
Length of Residence	Life	Two years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church, Oamaru
Folio	12/1699
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Burger

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).