Intentions to Marry, 1914 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840456, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1914 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1914a), Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1914b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1914c).

Page 2719

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar Alexander Pirie

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

3207

2 April 1914

John Lindsay
Isabella Young

John Lindsay
Isabella Young
💍 1914/800

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

27
23

Oamaru
Oamaru

27 years
23 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church Oamaru

4440

3 April 1914

Rev. Robert James Porter

No	3207
Date of Notice	2 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lindsay	Isabella Young
	💍 1914/800
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church Oamaru
Folio	4440
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert James Porter

3208

3 April 1914

Albert Summerell
Lizzie Ada Smith

Albert Summerell
Lizzie Ada Smith
💍 1914/6150

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Tailoress

21
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

19 years
3 weeks

Columba Presbyterian Church Oamaru

3686

3 April 1914

Rev. William Wright

No	3208
Date of Notice	3 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Summerell	Lizzie Ada Smith
	💍 1914/6150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Tailoress
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	19 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church Oamaru
Folio	3686
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright

3209

4 April 1914

William Alfred Smith
Elizabeth Fridd

William Alfred Smith
Elizabeth Fridd
💍 1914/799

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Painter
Woollen Mill Employee

25
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

6 months
9 years

In residence of Mrs C. Earl Ribble Street Oamaru

4439

4 April 1914

Rev. Robert James Porter

No	3209
Date of Notice	4 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Smith	Elizabeth Fridd
	💍 1914/799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Painter	Woollen Mill Employee
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 months	9 years
Marriage Place	In residence of Mrs C. Earl Ribble Street Oamaru
Folio	4439
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert James Porter

3210

8 April 1914

William Calder Morrison
Mary Rennie McCulloch

William Calder Morrison
Mary Rennie McCulloch
💍 1914/6156

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Duties

32
26

Ngapara
Ngapara

10 years
26 years

Private residence of Mr John McCulloch of Ngapara

3692

8 April 1914

Rev. Henry Clark

No	3210
Date of Notice	8 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Calder Morrison	Mary Rennie McCulloch
	💍 1914/6156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Duties
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	10 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr John McCulloch of Ngapara
Folio	3692
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Clark

3211

9 April 1914

William George Grave
Isabella McFarland Clarke

William George Grave
Isabella McFarland Clarke
💍 1914/6149

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic Duties

43
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

43 years
20 years

Residence of Mr William Clarke, Hull Street, Oamaru

3685

William Clarke, Father

9 April 1914

Rev. William Wright

No	3211
Date of Notice	9 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Grave	Isabella McFarland Clarke
	💍 1914/6149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic Duties
Age	43	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	43 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr William Clarke, Hull Street, Oamaru
Folio	3685
Consent	William Clarke, Father
Date of Certificate	9 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright

3212

9 April 1914

John Michael Griffin
Ellen Corcoran

John Michael Griffin
Ellen Dorothea Corcoran
💍 1914/6155

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper
Domestic Duties

28
27

Nightcaps
Oamaru

28 years
27 years

St Patricks Basilica Oamaru

3691

9 April 1914

Rev. Monsignor McKay

No	3212
Date of Notice	9 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Michael Griffin	Ellen Corcoran
BDM Match (80%)	John Michael Griffin	Ellen Dorothea Corcoran
	💍 1914/6155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Oamaru
Length of Residence	28 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Basilica Oamaru
Folio	3691
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Monsignor McKay

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).