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 1153

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

18 May 1881

David Jenkins
Kate Harvey
formerly Lee

David Jenkins
Kate Harvey
💍 1881/1476

Widower
Widow

Laborer

39
32

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
11 years

At the office of the Registrar

81/1466

18 May 1881

Arthur C. Henderson Registrar

No	37
Date of Notice	18 May 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Jenkins	Kate Harvey formerly Lee
BDM Match (73%)	David Jenkins	Kate Harvey
	💍 1881/1476
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	11 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar
Folio	81/1466
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1881
Officiating Minister	Arthur C. Henderson Registrar

25 May 1881

Dugald Wright
Ellen Shields

Dugald Wright
Helen Shields
💍 1881/1543

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

26
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 week
9 months

At the house of Rev. J. Paterson

81/1540

25 May 1881

Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian Minister

No	38
Date of Notice	25 May 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dugald Wright	Ellen Shields
BDM Match (92%)	Dugald Wright	Helen Shields
	💍 1881/1543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 week	9 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Rev. J. Paterson
Folio	81/1540
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian Minister

27 May 1881

George Hill Willson Mackesack
Martha Alicia Brett

George Hill Willson Mackisack
Martha Alicia Brett
💍 1881/2176

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

30
26

Invercargill
Gore

3 days
3 days

At the Church of England

29 May 1881

Rev. H. P. Tanner Church of England Minister

No	39
Date of Notice	27 May 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hill Willson Mackesack	Martha Alicia Brett
BDM Match (98%)	George Hill Willson Mackisack	Martha Alicia Brett
	💍 1881/2176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the Church of England
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. P. Tanner Church of England Minister

6 June 1881

James Barnes McFarlane
Jessie Hamilton Elliott

James Barnes McFarlane
Jessie Hamilton Elliot
💍 1881/1520

Widower
Spinster

Hawker

41
22

Invercargill
Avenal

3 years
22 years

At the house of David Elliott

81/1494

6 June 1881

Rev. J. Fairclough Wesleyan Minister

No	40
Date of Notice	6 June 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Barnes McFarlane	Jessie Hamilton Elliott
BDM Match (98%)	James Barnes McFarlane	Jessie Hamilton Elliot
	💍 1881/1520
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hawker
Age	41	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Avenal
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	At the house of David Elliott
Folio	81/1494
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Fairclough Wesleyan Minister

7 June 1881

Alfred Webb
[illegible]

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

23
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 months
9 days

At the office of the Registrar

81/1467

7 June 1881

Arthur C. Henderson Registrar

No	41
Date of Notice	7 June 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Webb	[illegible]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 months	9 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar
Folio	81/1467
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1881
Officiating Minister	Arthur C. Henderson Registrar

11 June 1881

George McAloney
Ellen Martha Thomson

George McAloney
Ellen Martha Thompson
💍 1881/1521

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

31
19

Appleby
Invercargill

3 years
18 years

At the house of Agnes Thomson

81/1495

Agnes Thomson, mother

11 June 1881

Rev. J. Fairclough Wesleyan Minister

No	42
Date of Notice	11 June 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McAloney	Ellen Martha Thomson
BDM Match (98%)	George McAloney	Ellen Martha Thompson
	💍 1881/1521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Appleby	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Agnes Thomson
Folio	81/1495
Consent	Agnes Thomson, mother
Date of Certificate	11 June 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Fairclough Wesleyan 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).