Intentions to Marry, 1873

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840385, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 4 2024

Page 889

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1873 Registrar Arthur C Henderson

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

645

7 April 1873

Kenneth Fraser
Lilias Thompson

Kenneth Fraser
Lilias Thompson
💍 1873/7789

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager

28
29

Otahu
Invercargill

2 years
10 years

At the House of John Walker Harrisville

73/1011

7 April 1873

Rev. Andrew Stobo

No	645
Date of Notice	7 April 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Fraser	Lilias Thompson
	💍 1873/7789
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Otahu	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At the House of John Walker Harrisville
Folio	73/1011
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. Andrew Stobo

647

9 April 1873

Duncan McRae
Jessie McRae

Duncan McRae
Jessy McRae
💍 1873/7816

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

38
24

Forrest Hill
Invercargill

6 years
6 months

At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

73/1020

9 April 1873

Rev. John Carden

No	647
Date of Notice	9 April 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McRae	Jessie McRae
BDM Match (92%)	Duncan McRae	Jessy McRae
	💍 1873/7816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Forrest Hill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	6 months
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	73/1020
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Carden

649

10 April 1873

Walter Sinclair Waterstone
Alice Green

Walter Sinclair Waterston
Alice Green
💍 1873/7765

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

31
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

9 years
5 years

At the Church of England, Invercargill

73/1003

10 April 1873

The Rev. Wm. P. Tanner

No	649
Date of Notice	10 April 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Sinclair Waterstone	Alice Green
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Sinclair Waterston	Alice Green
	💍 1873/7765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the Church of England, Invercargill
Folio	73/1003
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1873
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Wm. P. Tanner

650

14 April 1873

Edmund Williams Yorath
Frances Rosina Duncan

Edmond Gorath
Francis Rosina Duncan
💍 1873/7768

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

36
32

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 months
4 months

Church of England, Invercargill

73/1004

14 April 1873

The Rev. Wm. P. Tanner

No	650
Date of Notice	14 April 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Williams Yorath	Frances Rosina Duncan
BDM Match (73%)	Edmond Gorath	Francis Rosina Duncan
	💍 1873/7768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Invercargill
Folio	73/1004
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1873
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Wm. P. Tanner

651

25 April 1873

David Baldwin
Catherine Rose

David Baldwin
Catherine Rose
💍 1873/7795

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

27
21

Elbow
Invercargill

4 years
1 year

At the House of Rev. Andr Stobo Invercargill

73/1013

25 April 1873

The Rev. Andrew Stobo

No	651
Date of Notice	25 April 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Baldwin	Catherine Rose
	💍 1873/7795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Elbow	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the House of Rev. Andr Stobo Invercargill
Folio	73/1013
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1873
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Andrew Stobo

655

8 May 1873

John Bryce
Annie Bridget Green

John Boyce
Annie Bridget Green
💍 1873/7771

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

27
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

10 months
3 years

Church of England, Invercargill

73/1005

8 May 1873

The Rev. Wm. P. Tanner

No	655
Date of Notice	8 May 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bryce	Annie Bridget Green
BDM Match (95%)	John Boyce	Annie Bridget Green
	💍 1873/7771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Invercargill
Folio	73/1005
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1873
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Wm. P. Tanner

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).