Intentions to Marry, 1871

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840383, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, November 15 2024

Page 729

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1871

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

565

5 July 1871

James Allen
Eliza Lambert

James Allen
Eliza Lambert
💍 1871/6711

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool sorter

33
25

Athol, Invercargill
Spen[UNCLEAR], Invercargill

3 years
10 years

The Residence of Mr Lambert, Invercargill

5 July

Rev A. Jd. Slobo

No	565
Date of Notice	5 July 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Allen	Eliza Lambert
	💍 1871/6711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool sorter
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Athol, Invercargill	Spen[UNCLEAR], Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr Lambert, Invercargill
Folio	72
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Jd. Slobo

566

10 July

Franz William Frederick Gerzon
Mary Fraser

Franz William Frederick Geison
Mary Fraser
💍 1871/6648

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

39
33

Queenstown
Invercargill

5 years
4 days

Presbyterian Church

M1/940

10 July

Rev A. Jd. Slobo

No	566
Date of Notice	10 July
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franz William Frederick Gerzon	Mary Fraser
BDM Match (97%)	Franz William Frederick Geison	Mary Fraser
	💍 1871/6648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Queenstown	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	M1/940
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Jd. Slobo

567

11 July

John Hurry Kerr
Alice Douglas

John Henry Kerr
Alice Douglas
💍 1871/6651

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Manager

33
20

Speyll Invercargill
Invercargill

1.5 years
4 years

In the dwelling House of Mrs Crop, Widow, Invercargill

M1/941

Declaration made that no person by Law able to give Consent

11 July

Rev. A. Jd. Slobo

No	567
Date of Notice	11 July
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hurry Kerr	Alice Douglas
BDM Match (93%)	John Henry Kerr	Alice Douglas
	💍 1871/6651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Manager
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Speyll Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1.5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling House of Mrs Crop, Widow, Invercargill
Folio	M1/941
Consent	Declaration made that no person by Law able to give Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Jd. Slobo

568

12 July

William Pickford
Margaret Rumaird

William Pickford
Margaret Kinnard
💍 1871/6741

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24
20

Melvill, Invercargill
Gala St, Invercargill

8
4

The House of Mrs Rumaird, Gala Street, Invercargill

12 July

Rev. A. Jd. Slobo

No	568
Date of Notice	12 July
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pickford	Margaret Rumaird
BDM Match (84%)	William Pickford	Margaret Kinnard
	💍 1871/6741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Melvill, Invercargill	Gala St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	8	4
Marriage Place	The House of Mrs Rumaird, Gala Street, Invercargill
Folio	72
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Jd. Slobo

569

12 July

Joseph See
Agnes Davison

Joseph Lee
Agnes Davison
💍 1871/9054

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Servant

36
29

Wakarerra, New River
Deveron, [UNCLEAR]

9 years
2 months

Dwelling House of Agnes Davison, Deveron [UNCLEAR]

72/963

12 July

Rev. J. E. Rushworth

No	569
Date of Notice	12 July
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph See	Agnes Davison
BDM Match (95%)	Joseph Lee	Agnes Davison
	💍 1871/9054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Servant
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Wakarerra, New River	Deveron, [UNCLEAR]
Length of Residence	9 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of Agnes Davison, Deveron [UNCLEAR]
Folio	72/963
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Rushworth

570

14 July

Andrew Christie
Jessie McCulloch Warden

Andrew Christie
Jessie Maloch Warden
💍 1871/6747

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
18

Long Bush, Invercargill
One Tree Point, Invercargill

8 years
12 years

the dwelling House of Charles Thompson Warden, One Tree Point, Invercargill

72/874

Charles Y Warden, father

14 July

Rev. Wm Alexander

No	570
Date of Notice	14 July
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Christie	Jessie McCulloch Warden
BDM Match (91%)	Andrew Christie	Jessie Maloch Warden
	💍 1871/6747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	18
Dwelling Place	Long Bush, Invercargill	One Tree Point, Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	12 years
Marriage Place	the dwelling House of Charles Thompson Warden, One Tree Point, Invercargill
Folio	72/874
Consent	Charles Y Warden, father
Date of Certificate	14 July
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Alexander

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 1903. 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).