Intentions to Marry, 1876

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840388, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

A few of the pages are missing.

Page 871

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 December 1876

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

12 October 1876

Alexander Waters Paull
Mary Ann Inverse

Alexander Waters Paull
Mary Ann Moore
💍 1876/2762

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

23
19

Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Foyn Bell, Port Chalmers

4 months
3 months

At the Manse, Port Chalmers

76/2835

Caroline Inverse, Mother

14 October 1876

Rev. James Maxwell, Congre

No	1
Date of Notice	12 October 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Waters Paull	Mary Ann Inverse
BDM Match (84%)	Alexander Waters Paull	Mary Ann Moore
	💍 1876/2762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Mount Street, Port Chalmers	Foyn Bell, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 months	3 months
Marriage Place	At the Manse, Port Chalmers
Folio	76/2835
Consent	Caroline Inverse, Mother
Date of Certificate	14 October 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Maxwell, Congre

13 November 1876

James Painter
Ruth Rodgers

James Painter
Ruth Rodgers
💍 1876/2763

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

21
21

Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Mount Street, Port Chalmers

3 months
3 months

At the House of Mr. Rachford, Mount Street, Port Chalmers

76/2836

3 November 1876

Rev. James Maxwell, Congre

No	2
Date of Notice	13 November 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Painter	Ruth Rodgers
	💍 1876/2763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Mount Street, Port Chalmers	Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr. Rachford, Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	76/2836
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Maxwell, Congre

14 November 1876

James Macgregor Weir
Selina Randall

James Macgregor Weir
Selina Randall
💍 1876/2742

Widower
Spinster

Gas Inspector
[illegible]

37
30

Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers
Hagstaff Hill, Port Chalmers

10 days
10 years

At the House of Mr. [illegible] Ba[illegible]ie, Scotia Street, Port Chalmers

76/2838

3 November 1876

Rev. Lorenzo Moore, CofE

No	3
Date of Notice	14 November 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Macgregor Weir	Selina Randall
	💍 1876/2742
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gas Inspector	[illegible]
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers	Hagstaff Hill, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	10 days	10 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr. [illegible] Ba[illegible]ie, Scotia Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	76/2838
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lorenzo Moore, CofE

15 November 1876

William McKirdy
Jane Spiers

William McKirdy
Jane Spears
💍 1876/3180

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

23
23

Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers
do, do

7 days
3 days

At the Presbyterian Manse, Port Chalmers

76/3186

28 November 1876

Rev. William Johnstone, O.S.

No	4
Date of Notice	15 November 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McKirdy	Jane Spiers
BDM Match (91%)	William McKirdy	Jane Spears
	💍 1876/3180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers	do, do
Length of Residence	7 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the Presbyterian Manse, Port Chalmers
Folio	76/3186
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Johnstone, O.S.

16 December 1876

Hans Johnson
Margaret Thomson

Hans Johnson
Margaret Thomson
💍 1876/2764

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Servant

29
22

Mount Street, Port Chalmers
do, do

[illegible] weeks
[illegible] weeks

At the House of Mr. Cornish, Mount Street, Port Chalmers

76/2837

6 December 1876

Rev. William Beatt, Pres

No	5
Date of Notice	16 December 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hans Johnson	Margaret Thomson
	💍 1876/2764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Servant
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Mount Street, Port Chalmers	do, do
Length of Residence	[illegible] weeks	[illegible] weeks
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr. Cornish, Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	76/2837
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Beatt, Pres

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).