Intentions to Marry, 1881

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840393, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

Page 1147

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1881

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

5 February 1881

John McPherson
Margaret Elizabeth Lee

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

22
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
4 months

At the house of M. P. Lee, Gala Street, Invercargill

5 February 1881

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister, Invercargill

No	11
Date of Notice	5 February 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McPherson	Margaret Elizabeth Lee
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	4 months
Marriage Place	At the house of M. P. Lee, Gala Street, Invercargill
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister, Invercargill

10 February 1881

John Hunter
Mary Elizabeth Williams

John Hunter
Mary Elizabeth Williams
💍 1881/735

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker

21
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

15 years
8 years

At the office of the Registrar, Invercargill

81/1691

John Williams, Father

10 February 1881

Arthur C. Henderson

No	12
Date of Notice	10 February 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hunter	Mary Elizabeth Williams
	💍 1881/735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	8 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	81/1691
Consent	John Williams, Father
Date of Certificate	10 February 1881
Officiating Minister	Arthur C. Henderson

12 February 1881

John Stevenson
Mary Kissell

John Stevenson
Mary Kissell
💍 1881/731

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

21
18

North Invercargill
North Invercargill

3 years
6 years

At the house of W. M. Kissell, North Invercargill

81/1684

William Henry Kissell, Father

12 February 1881

Rev. C. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	13
Date of Notice	12 February 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stevenson	Mary Kissell
	💍 1881/731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the house of W. M. Kissell, North Invercargill
Folio	81/1684
Consent	William Henry Kissell, Father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist Minister

14 February 1881

John Black McLeely
Mary Catherine Perry

John Black McLeahy
Mary Catherine Ferry
💍 1881/765

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

30
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 months

At the house of Rev. J. Paterson, Invercargill

81/1720

14 February 1881

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister

No	14
Date of Notice	14 February 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Black McLeely	Mary Catherine Perry
BDM Match (92%)	John Black McLeahy	Mary Catherine Ferry
	💍 1881/765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Rev. J. Paterson, Invercargill
Folio	81/1720
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister

14 February 1881

Colin Gray
Catherine Fraser

Colin Gray
Catherine Fraser
💍 1881/739

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
26

Wallacetown Plains
Waianiwa

12 years
22 years

At the house of Lachlan Fraser, Waianiwa

81/1694

14 February 1881

Rev. Andrew Stevens, Presbyterian Minister

No	15
Date of Notice	14 February 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Gray	Catherine Fraser
	💍 1881/739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Wallacetown Plains	Waianiwa
Length of Residence	12 years	22 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Lachlan Fraser, Waianiwa
Folio	81/1694
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. Andrew Stevens, Presbyterian Minister

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).