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 2732

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1914 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

3258

24 October 1914

Charles Samuel Collins
Helen Patterson

Charles Samuel Collins
Helen Patterson
💍 1914/4217

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Tailoress

30
22

Pukeuri
Oamaru

7 months
3 days

Methodist Church Manse, Eden Street, Oamaru

8081

24 October 1914

Rev. John Alex Lochore

No	3258
Date of Notice	24 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Samuel Collins	Helen Patterson
	💍 1914/4217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Tailoress
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Pukeuri	Oamaru
Length of Residence	7 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Manse, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	8081
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Alex Lochore

3259

26 October 1914

William Lunan Russell
Jessie Jane Stewart

William Lunam Russell
Jessie Jane Steuart
💍 1914/4218

William Patrick Russell
Jessie Mary Grant
💍 1914/8599

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover
Domestic Duties

26
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
10 years

Methodist Parsonage, Eden Street, Oamaru

8082

26 October 1914

Rev. John Alex Lochore

No	3259
Date of Notice	26 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lunan Russell	Jessie Jane Stewart
BDM Match (95%)	William Lunam Russell	Jessie Jane Steuart
	💍 1914/4218
BDM Match (64%)	William Patrick Russell	Jessie Mary Grant
	💍 1914/8599
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	8082
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Alex Lochore

3260

26 October 1914

John Little
Elizabeth Mary Sidey

John Little
Elizabeth Mary Sidey
💍 1914/4221

Bachelor
Spinster

Dry Salter
Domestic Duties

23
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
27 years

Church of Christ, Oamaru

8085

26 October 1914

Rev. T. H. Mathieson

No	3260
Date of Notice	26 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Little	Elizabeth Mary Sidey
	💍 1914/4221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dry Salter	Domestic Duties
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Oamaru
Folio	8085
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Mathieson

3261

28 October 1914

Angus McKay
Isabella Connor

Angus McKay
Isabella Connor
💍 1914/4100

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

27
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

8061

28 October 1914

Registrar of Marriages

No	3261
Date of Notice	28 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus McKay	Isabella Connor
	💍 1914/4100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
Folio	8061
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

3262

30 October 1914

Archibald Colquhoun Campbell
Rita Gray Ramsay

Archibald Colquhoun Campbell
Rita Gray Ramsay
💍 1914/4220

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockbuyer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
18 years

At dwelling house of Mr James M'Nicoll, Ramsay, Wharf Street, Oamaru

8084

30 October 1914

Rev. Thomas Neave

No	3262
Date of Notice	30 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Colquhoun Campbell	Rita Gray Ramsay
	💍 1914/4220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockbuyer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	At dwelling house of Mr James M'Nicoll, Ramsay, Wharf Street, Oamaru
Folio	8084
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Neave

3263

2 November 1914

Alexander John Rankin
Harriet Sutton

Alexander John Rankin
Harriet Sutton
💍 1914/4101

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic Duties

26
24

Whitstone
Whitstone

1 week
24 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

8062

2 November 1914

Registrar of Marriages

No	3263
Date of Notice	2 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Rankin	Harriet Sutton
	💍 1914/4101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Whitstone	Whitstone
Length of Residence	1 week	24 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
Folio	8062
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).