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 677

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1912 Registrar Adam Nair

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

3075

14 October 1912

Allan Clarence Anderson
Fanny Turnbull

Allan Clarence Anderson
Fanny Turnbull
💍 1912/9196

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
21

Enfield
Windsor

24 years
21 years

In the residence of Mr. Robert Turnbull

12/8460

14 October 1912

Rev. James O. Wilson

No	3075
Date of Notice	14 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Clarence Anderson	Fanny Turnbull
	💍 1912/9196
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Windsor
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr. Robert Turnbull
Folio	12/8460
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. James O. Wilson

3076

14 October 1912

John Duain Hair
Annie Isabel Hair

John Main
Annie Mabel Hair
💍 1912/9199

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

38
29

Waiareka
Waiareka

38 years
22 years

Residence of Mr. James Hair, Junction

12/8463

14 October 1912

Rev. J. Douglas Mill

No	3076
Date of Notice	14 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Duain Hair	Annie Isabel Hair
BDM Match (71%)	John Main	Annie Mabel Hair
	💍 1912/9199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	38	29
Dwelling Place	Waiareka	Waiareka
Length of Residence	38 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. James Hair, Junction
Folio	12/8463
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Douglas Mill

3077

15 October 1912

John Albert Shea Forde
Lena Catherine Forde

John Albert Shea
Lena Catherine Forde
💍 1912/9200

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
General Servant

28
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 weeks

In the Roman Catholic Church, Oamaru

12/8464

15 October 1912

Rev. Alexander Farthing

No	3077
Date of Notice	15 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Albert Shea Forde	Lena Catherine Forde
BDM Match (86%)	John Albert Shea	Lena Catherine Forde
	💍 1912/9200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	General Servant
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church, Oamaru
Folio	12/8464
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Farthing

3078

26 October 1912

George Paterson Robinson
Kate Robinson

George Paterson
Kate Robinson
💍 1912/5463

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant

26
28

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 years
28 years

In St. Paul's Church

12/9101

26 October 1912

Rev. Robert James Porter

No	3078
Date of Notice	26 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Paterson Robinson	Kate Robinson
BDM Match (81%)	George Paterson	Kate Robinson
	💍 1912/5463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 years	28 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Church
Folio	12/9101
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert James Porter

3079

28 October 1912

James Henry Moore
Elizabeth Goodall

James Henry Moore
Elizabeth Goodall
💍 1912/9201

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer's Assistant
Domestic Servant

36
22

usual: Dunedin, present: Oamaru
South Oamaru

3 days
10 weeks

In the Church of Christ, Oamaru

12/8465

28 October 1912

Rev. H. G. Harward

No	3079
Date of Notice	28 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Moore	Elizabeth Goodall
	💍 1912/9201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer's Assistant	Domestic Servant
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	usual: Dunedin, present: Oamaru	South Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	10 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Church of Christ, Oamaru
Folio	12/8465
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Harward

3080

31 October 1912

William Miller Thoms
Annie Watson Thoms

William Miller
Annie Watson Thoms
💍 1912/9120

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Dressmaker

37
37

Oamaru
Dunedin

30 years
4 weeks

In Knox Church at Dunedin

12/8325

31 October 1912

Rev. R. E. Davies

No	3080
Date of Notice	31 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Miller Thoms	Annie Watson Thoms
BDM Match (85%)	William Miller	Annie Watson Thoms
	💍 1912/9120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Dressmaker
Age	37	37
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	In Knox Church at Dunedin
Folio	12/8325
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. E. Davies

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).