Intentions to Marry, 1875

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840387, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

This register is quite fragile and some of the pages are damaged or even missing.

Page 947

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1875 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

18 May 1875

James Reid Campbell
Isabella Ross

James Reid Campbell
Isabella Ross
💍 1875/1106

Widower
Spinster

Harbour Master
Domestic Servant

47
35

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
9 months

At the house of William Teviotdale Gladstone

75/1206

18 May 1875

Rev Mr. Davidson

No	45
Date of Notice	18 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Reid Campbell	Isabella Ross
	💍 1875/1106
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Master	Domestic Servant
Age	47	35
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	9 months
Marriage Place	At the house of William Teviotdale Gladstone
Folio	75/1206
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev Mr. Davidson

22 May 1875

Thomas Edward Armstrong
Sarah Glennie

Thomas E Armstrong
Sarah Glennie
💍 1875/1108

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

32
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 months
6 years

At the house of Mr. Angus McLean Invercargill

75/1208

22 May 1875

Rev Mr. Davidson

No	46
Date of Notice	22 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Armstrong	Sarah Glennie
BDM Match (89%)	Thomas E Armstrong	Sarah Glennie
	💍 1875/1108
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 months	6 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Angus McLean Invercargill
Folio	75/1208
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev Mr. Davidson

26 May 1875

William Guthrie Gordon
Matilda Jane Howell

William Cushine Gordon
Matilda Jane Howell
💍 1875/1154

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

25
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
1 year

At the house of Mr. Howell, Flint's Bush

Caroline Howell, Mother

26 May 1875

Rev. Mr. Oldham

No	47
Date of Notice	26 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Guthrie Gordon	Matilda Jane Howell
BDM Match (91%)	William Cushine Gordon	Matilda Jane Howell
	💍 1875/1154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Howell, Flint's Bush
Folio
Consent	Caroline Howell, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 May 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Oldham

26 May 1875

James Young
Hannah Hayward

James Young
Hannah Hayward
💍 1875/1030

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

28
17

Wallacetown
Wallacetown

5 years
11 years

At the office of the Registrar Invercargill

75/1199

William Hayward, Father

26 May 1875

The Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	26 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Young	Hannah Hayward
	💍 1875/1030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	28	17
Dwelling Place	Wallacetown	Wallacetown
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar Invercargill
Folio	75/1199
Consent	William Hayward, Father
Date of Certificate	26 May 1875
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

27 May 1875

Carls Johnsson
Catherine Hutchison

Carls Johnsson
Catherine Hutchison
💍 1875/1209

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

34
22

Waikivi
Waikivi

14 years
12 months

At the house of Mrs. Dowley Waikivi

75/1257

24 May 1875

Rev. J. A. Taylor

No	49
Date of Notice	27 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carls Johnsson	Catherine Hutchison
	💍 1875/1209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Waikivi	Waikivi
Length of Residence	14 years	12 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs. Dowley Waikivi
Folio	75/1257
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Taylor

3 June 1875

Robert Russell Livermore
Fanny Sarah Mather

Robert Russell Leveruine
Fanny Sarah Mather
💍 1875/1210

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

39
25

Gladstone
Gladstone

6 months
6 months

At the Gladstone Hotel

75/1258

3 June 1875

Rev. J. A. Taylor

No	50
Date of Notice	3 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Russell Livermore	Fanny Sarah Mather
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Russell Leveruine	Fanny Sarah Mather
	💍 1875/1210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	39	25
Dwelling Place	Gladstone	Gladstone
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	At the Gladstone Hotel
Folio	75/1258
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Taylor

8 June 1875

James McLennan
Isabella Noble

James McLennan
Isabella Noble
💍 1875/1111

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

29
26

Wallacetown Plains
Wallacetown Plains

12 months
12 months

At the house of John Bisset Wallacetown

75/1211

8 June 1875

Rev. Mr. Stephens

No	51
Date of Notice	8 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McLennan	Isabella Noble
	💍 1875/1111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wallacetown Plains	Wallacetown Plains
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	At the house of John Bisset Wallacetown
Folio	75/1211
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Stephens

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).