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 989

District of Port Chalmers 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

1 April 1881

William Waterhouse Lawrie
Ellen Campbell

William Waterhouse Dawson
Ellen Campbell
💍 1881/1361

Bachelor
Widow

Clerk

39 years
40 do

Grey Street Port Chalmers
Grey Street Port Chalmers

4 days
4 days

At the House of Rev. Jas. Inodie Grey Street Port Chalmers

81/1308

1 April 1881

Rev. Wm. Findley Wesleyan Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	1 April 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Waterhouse Lawrie	Ellen Campbell
BDM Match (92%)	William Waterhouse Dawson	Ellen Campbell
	💍 1881/1361
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Clerk
Age	39 years	40 do
Dwelling Place	Grey Street Port Chalmers	Grey Street Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	At the House of Rev. Jas. Inodie Grey Street Port Chalmers
Folio	81/1308
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Findley Wesleyan Minister

8 April 1881

William Henry Hopkins
Elizabeth Hannah Austin

William Henry Hoskins
Elizabeth Hannah Austin
💍 1881/1328

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

19 years
19 do

Manse Street Port Chalmers
do

5 years
4 do

At the House of W. H. Hopkins Manse Street Port Chalmers

81/1299

William Hopkins Father Elizabeth Austin Mother

8 April 1881

Rev. Jas. Maxwell Congregational Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	8 April 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hopkins	Elizabeth Hannah Austin
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Hoskins	Elizabeth Hannah Austin
	💍 1881/1328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	19 years	19 do
Dwelling Place	Manse Street Port Chalmers	do
Length of Residence	5 years	4 do
Marriage Place	At the House of W. H. Hopkins Manse Street Port Chalmers
Folio	81/1299
Consent	William Hopkins Father Elizabeth Austin Mother
Date of Certificate	8 April 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Maxwell Congregational Minister

9 April 1881

Edward Simpson
Sarah Ann Strong

Edward Simpson
Sarah Ann Strong
💍 1881/1329

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Dressmaker

25 years
17 years

SS 'Wakatipu' Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 days
15 years

At the Congregational Manse Port Chalmers

81/1300

Charles Strong Father

15 April 1881

Rev. Jas. Maxwell Congregational Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	9 April 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Simpson	Sarah Ann Strong
	💍 1881/1329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Dressmaker
Age	25 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	SS 'Wakatipu' Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	At the Congregational Manse Port Chalmers
Folio	81/1300
Consent	Charles Strong Father
Date of Certificate	15 April 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Maxwell Congregational Minister

10 April 1881

William Nichol Guthrie
Matilda Evans Brown

William Nichol Cathro
Matilda Evans Brown
💍 1881/1354

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27 years
22 do

Harrington Street Port Chalmers
do

4 days
3 months

At the House of Wm. Brown Harrington Street Port Chalmers

81/1304

25 April 1881

Rev. Jas. Maxwell Congregational Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	10 April 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Nichol Guthrie	Matilda Evans Brown
BDM Match (91%)	William Nichol Cathro	Matilda Evans Brown
	💍 1881/1354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27 years	22 do
Dwelling Place	Harrington Street Port Chalmers	do
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	At the House of Wm. Brown Harrington Street Port Chalmers
Folio	81/1304
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Maxwell Congregational Minister

11 May 1881

William Henry Moody
Grace Chalser

William Henry Moody
Grace Chalker
💍 1881/1452

Widower
Spinster

Railway Storeman

31 years
20 do

Mansfield Bay
do

1 year
do

At the House of Henry Madigan Mansfied Bay

81/1457

Henry Chalser Father

13 May 1881

Rev. Wm. Findley Wesleyan Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	11 May 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Moody	Grace Chalser
BDM Match (96%)	William Henry Moody	Grace Chalker
	💍 1881/1452
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Storeman
Age	31 years	20 do
Dwelling Place	Mansfield Bay	do
Length of Residence	1 year	do
Marriage Place	At the House of Henry Madigan Mansfied Bay
Folio	81/1457
Consent	Henry Chalser Father
Date of Certificate	13 May 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Findley Wesleyan Minister

12 May 1881

Cornelius Frederick Schmedes
Isabella Anna Smith

Cornelius Frederick Schmedes
Isabella Ann Smith
💍 1881/1453

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

20 years
19 do

Landing Bay Lower Harbour
Port Chalmers

2 years
3 do

At the Wesleyan Parsonage Port Chalmers

81/1452

Charles Smith Father

11 June 1881

Rev. Wm. Findley Wesleyan Minister

No	6
Date of Notice	12 May 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Frederick Schmedes	Isabella Anna Smith
BDM Match (97%)	Cornelius Frederick Schmedes	Isabella Ann Smith
	💍 1881/1453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	20 years	19 do
Dwelling Place	Landing Bay Lower Harbour	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	3 do
Marriage Place	At the Wesleyan Parsonage Port Chalmers
Folio	81/1452
Consent	Charles Smith Father
Date of Certificate	11 June 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Findley 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).