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 1020

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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 June 1876

Archibald Drew
Wilhelmina Avis

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
General Servant

27
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 Years
17 Months

At the Church of England, Invercargill

76/11594

John Avis, Guardian

12 June 1876

Rev. W. R. Tanner

No	48
Date of Notice	12 June 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Drew	Wilhelmina Avis
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	General Servant
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 Years	17 Months
Marriage Place	At the Church of England, Invercargill
Folio	76/11594
Consent	John Avis, Guardian
Date of Certificate	12 June 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Tanner

12 June 1876

Robert Thornton
Eleanor Jane Long

Robert Thomson
Eleanor Jane Lang
💍 1876/1277

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith

21
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

13 Years
16 Years

House of the Rev. W. Dean

76/1190

12 June 1876

Rev. W. Dean, Prim

No	49
Date of Notice	12 June 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Thornton	Eleanor Jane Long
BDM Match (87%)	Robert Thomson	Eleanor Jane Lang
	💍 1876/1277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	13 Years	16 Years
Marriage Place	House of the Rev. W. Dean
Folio	76/1190
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Dean, Prim

13 June 1876

William Mckenzie
Mary Anne Adamson

William McKenzie
Mary Ann Adamson
💍 1876/1271

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool-classer
General Servant

24
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

14 Months
1 Year

House of Charles Geddes, Mitchell St, Invercargill

76/1195

Maria Geddes, Mother

13 June 1876

Rev. W. Dean, Prim

No	50
Date of Notice	13 June 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mckenzie	Mary Anne Adamson
BDM Match (94%)	William McKenzie	Mary Ann Adamson
	💍 1876/1271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool-classer	General Servant
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 Months	1 Year
Marriage Place	House of Charles Geddes, Mitchell St, Invercargill
Folio	76/1195
Consent	Maria Geddes, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 June 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Dean, Prim

13 June 1876

William Andrew Baker
Mary Ballneabis

William Andrew Baker
Mary Balneavis
💍 1876/1147

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

24
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 Days
3 Months

At the Presbyterian Church, Gore

76/1186

13 June 1876

Rev. A. Arnot

No	51
Date of Notice	13 June 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Andrew Baker	Mary Ballneabis
BDM Match (93%)	William Andrew Baker	Mary Balneavis
	💍 1876/1147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 Days	3 Months
Marriage Place	At the Presbyterian Church, Gore
Folio	76/1186
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Arnot

19 June 1876

George Henry Christ Roberts
Ellen Margaret Roberts

George Henry Chrisp
Ellen Margaret Evans
💍 1876/1598

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 Days
16 Years

At the Church of England, Invercargill

76/11595

19 June 1876

Rev. W. P. Tanner

No	52
Date of Notice	19 June 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Christ Roberts	Ellen Margaret Roberts
BDM Match (70%)	George Henry Chrisp	Ellen Margaret Evans
	💍 1876/1598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 Days	16 Years
Marriage Place	At the Church of England, Invercargill
Folio	76/11595
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Tanner

19 June 1876

John Struton
Margaret Murphy

John Stanton
Margaret Murphy
💍 1876/1282

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
General Servant

28
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

8 Years
7 Years

Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

76/1194, 1201

19 June 1876

Rev. Thos. Higgins

No	53
Date of Notice	19 June 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Struton	Margaret Murphy
BDM Match (92%)	John Stanton	Margaret Murphy
	💍 1876/1282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	General Servant
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 Years	7 Years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	76/1194, 1201
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Higgins

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).