Intentions to Marry, 1877

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840389, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 1011

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar A. 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

03 January 1877

Frank Forster
Mary Ramsay

Frank Foster
Mary Ramsay
💍 1877/679

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

36
21

Wyndham
Wyndham

2 years
1 year

At Office of Registrar Invercargill

77/592

03 January 1877

The Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	03 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Forster	Mary Ramsay
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Foster	Mary Ramsay
	💍 1877/679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Wyndham
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At Office of Registrar Invercargill
Folio	77/592
Consent
Date of Certificate	03 January 1877
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

10 January 1877

James Cameron
Margaret Parker

James Cameron
Margaret Parker
💍 1877/672

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Servant
Domestic Servant

33
23

One Tree Point
One Tree Point

2 weeks
3 days

House of Rev. Mr Paterson Invercargill

77/586

10 January 1877

Rev. Mr Paterson

No	2
Date of Notice	10 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cameron	Margaret Parker
	💍 1877/672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Servant	Domestic Servant
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	One Tree Point	One Tree Point
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Mr Paterson Invercargill
Folio	77/586
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr Paterson

15 January 1877

Alexander Ferguson
Helena Geary

Alex Ferguson
Helena Gray
💍 1877/673

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

23
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 year
3 years

House of Mrs Geary, Earn St, Invercargill

77/587

15 January 1877

Rev. Mr Paterson

No	3
Date of Notice	15 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Ferguson	Helena Geary
BDM Match (78%)	Alex Ferguson	Helena Gray
	💍 1877/673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Geary, Earn St, Invercargill
Folio	77/587
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr Paterson

16 January 1877

William Robert Thornhill
Nora Gwenllian Williams

William Robert Thornhill
Nora Gwenllian Williams
💍 1877/777

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

29
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
4 years

Church of England Invercargill

77/694

16 January 1877

Rev. W P Tanner

No	4
Date of Notice	16 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Thornhill	Nora Gwenllian Williams
	💍 1877/777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Invercargill
Folio	77/694
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. W P Tanner

17 January 1877

Henry Boyce
Margaret Taylor
formerly Shaw

Henry Boyce
Margaret Taylor
💍 1877/674

Widower
Widow

Labourer

37
38

Invercargill
Clinton

9 months
13 years

House of Mrs Taylor, Clinton

77/588

17 January 1877

Rev. Mr Paterson

No	5
Date of Notice	17 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Boyce	Margaret Taylor formerly Shaw
	💍 1877/674
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	37	38
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Clinton
Length of Residence	9 months	13 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Taylor, Clinton
Folio	77/588
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr Paterson

24 January 1877

Richard Augustus Fredric
Eliza Jane Mayze

Richard Agustus Fredric
Elisa Jane Mayre
💍 1877/675

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith
General Servant

21
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
13 years

House of Thomas Mayze, Invercargill

77/589

24 January 1877

Rev. Mr Paterson

No	6
Date of Notice	24 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Augustus Fredric	Eliza Jane Mayze
BDM Match (92%)	Richard Agustus Fredric	Elisa Jane Mayre
	💍 1877/675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith	General Servant
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	House of Thomas Mayze, Invercargill
Folio	77/589
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr Paterson

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).