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 1013

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

23 February 1877

Robert Stevensib
Hannah Pay
formerly Taylor

Robert Stevenson
Hannah Pay
💍 1877/711

Widower
Widow

Labourer

50
48

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 years
10 years

House of Rev. W Dean Invercargill

77/604

23 February 1877

Rev. W J. Dean

No	14
Date of Notice	23 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stevensib	Hannah Pay formerly Taylor
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Stevenson	Hannah Pay
	💍 1877/711
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	50	48
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W Dean Invercargill
Folio	77/604
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. W J. Dean

23 February 1877

Richard Hassed
Jemima McIntosh

Richard Harred
Jemima MacIntosh
💍 1877/712

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

32
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 week
1 month

House of Rev. W. J. Dean Invercargill

77/605

23 February 1877

Rev. W. J. Dean

No	15
Date of Notice	23 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Hassed	Jemima McIntosh
BDM Match (90%)	Richard Harred	Jemima MacIntosh
	💍 1877/712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 week	1 month
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. J. Dean Invercargill
Folio	77/605
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Dean

28 February 1877

William Aretad Parry Sutton
Ada Elizabeth Kingswell

William Aretus Parry Sutton
Ada Elisabeth Kingswell
💍 1877/780

Bachelor
Spinster

Fellmonger

38
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
11 years

Church of England Invercargill

77/696

William B. Kingswell Father

28 February 1877

Rev. W. P. Tanner

No	16
Date of Notice	28 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Aretad Parry Sutton	Ada Elizabeth Kingswell
BDM Match (94%)	William Aretus Parry Sutton	Ada Elisabeth Kingswell
	💍 1877/780
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fellmonger
Age	38	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Invercargill
Folio	77/696
Consent	William B. Kingswell Father
Date of Certificate	28 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Tanner

28 February 1877

Charles William Brown
Eliza Anne Palmer

Charles William Brown
Eliza Annie Palmer
💍 1877/684

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

30
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
1 week

House of H. Reed Don Street Invercargill

77/597

28 February 1877

Rev. D. McNichol

No	17
Date of Notice	28 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Brown	Eliza Anne Palmer
BDM Match (97%)	Charles William Brown	Eliza Annie Palmer
	💍 1877/684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	1 week
Marriage Place	House of H. Reed Don Street Invercargill
Folio	77/597
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. McNichol

2 March 1877

Robert Taylor
Charlotte Stewart

Robert Taylor
Charlotte Stewart
💍 1877/692

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

24
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

16 years
14 years

House of John Stewart Invercargill

77/601

2 March 1877

Rev. A. H. Stobo

No	18
Date of Notice	2 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Taylor	Charlotte Stewart
	💍 1877/692
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	16 years	14 years
Marriage Place	House of John Stewart Invercargill
Folio	77/601
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Stobo

9 March 1877

David Strang
Mary Jane Ramsay

David Strang
Mary Jane Ramsay
💍 1877/703

Bachelor
Spinster

Coffee Manufacturer

26
19

Invercargill
Charlestown

13 years
15 years

House of R. Ramsay Charlestown

77/602

Robert Ramsay Father

9 March 1877

Rev. A. H. Stobo

No	19
Date of Notice	9 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Strang	Mary Jane Ramsay
	💍 1877/703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coffee Manufacturer
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Charlestown
Length of Residence	13 years	15 years
Marriage Place	House of R. Ramsay Charlestown
Folio	77/602
Consent	Robert Ramsay Father
Date of Certificate	9 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Stobo

12 March 1877

George Charles Buttolph
Mary McIntosh

George Charles Buttolph
Mary McIntosh
💍 1877/677

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

31
21

Gore
Invercargill

18 months
9 years

House of R. McIntosh Mary St, Invercargill

77/591

12 March 1877

Rev. Mr. Stewart

No	20
Date of Notice	12 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Charles Buttolph	Mary McIntosh
	💍 1877/677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Gore	Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 months	9 years
Marriage Place	House of R. McIntosh Mary St, Invercargill
Folio	77/591
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Stewart

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).