Intentions to Marry, 1882

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840394, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 993

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1882 Registrar John Robert Jonson

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

09 January 1882

Alfred Robinson
Emily Srew

Alfred Robinson
Emily Drew
💍 1882/751

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

25 years
22 years

Brown Street Port Chalmers
Beach Street Port Chalmers

3 days
22 months

At the residence of Mr. Lowrie Port Chalmers

82/1452

09 January 1882

Rev. & Wm. Findley Wesleyan Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	09 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Robinson	Emily Srew
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred Robinson	Emily Drew
	💍 1882/751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	25 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Brown Street Port Chalmers	Beach Street Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	22 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. Lowrie Port Chalmers
Folio	82/1452
Consent
Date of Certificate	09 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. & Wm. Findley Wesleyan Minister

24 January 1882

John Glen Skinner Sawrie
Catherine Gracie

John G S Lawrie
Catherine Morris
💍 1882/731

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Servant

25 years
23

Sawyers Bay Port Chalmers
Sawyers Bay

3 years
20 days

At the House of Mrs. Lowrie's Sawyers Bay

82/1456

24 January 1882

Rev. John Ryley Presbyterian Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	24 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Glen Skinner Sawrie	Catherine Gracie
BDM Match (64%)	John G S Lawrie	Catherine Morris
	💍 1882/731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Servant
Age	25 years	23
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay Port Chalmers	Sawyers Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	20 days
Marriage Place	At the House of Mrs. Lowrie's Sawyers Bay
Folio	82/1456
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Ryley Presbyterian Minister

03 February 1882

Henry Kenton
Emily Jane Lewis

Henry Kenton
Emily Jane Lewis
💍 1882/733

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman

21 years
21

Hamilton Bay Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

8 years
18 days

At Holy Family Church

82/1458

03 February 1882

Rev. F. B. Platts M.A. Church of England Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	03 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Kenton	Emily Jane Lewis
	💍 1882/733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman
Age	21 years	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton Bay Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	8 years	18 days
Marriage Place	At Holy Family Church
Folio	82/1458
Consent
Date of Certificate	03 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Platts M.A. Church of England Minister

15 February 1882

Robert Brunton
Margaret McSeed

Robert Brunton
Margaret McLeod
💍 1882/752

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

29 years
27 years

Parlua Dining Rooms Beach Street Port Chalmers
Beach Street Port Chalmers

3 days
3 days

At the Parlua Dining Rooms Beach Street

82/1453

15 February 1882

Rev. & Mrs. Findley Wesleyan Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	15 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brunton	Margaret McSeed
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Brunton	Margaret McLeod
	💍 1882/752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	29 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Parlua Dining Rooms Beach Street Port Chalmers	Beach Street Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the Parlua Dining Rooms Beach Street
Folio	82/1453
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. & Mrs. Findley Wesleyan Minister

04 March 1882

Samuel Penny
Margaret Walsh

Samuel Penny
Margaret Walsh
💍 1882/753

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic Servant

24 years
21

Mary Street Port Chalmers
Mary Street Port Chalmers

12 years
4 hours

At the House of Charles Penny Mary Street

82/1454

04 March 1882

Rev. & Wm. Findley Wesleyan Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	04 March 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Penny	Margaret Walsh
	💍 1882/753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Servant
Age	24 years	21
Dwelling Place	Mary Street Port Chalmers	Mary Street Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	12 years	4 hours
Marriage Place	At the House of Charles Penny Mary Street
Folio	82/1454
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. & Wm. Findley Wesleyan Minister

08 March 1882

Andrew Peter Lees
Martha Jane Pearson

Andrew Yates Lees
Martha Jane Pearson
💍 1882/732

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Engineer
Milliner

25 years
22

Byrne Street Port Chalmers
Byrne Street Port Chalmers

2 months
3 months

At the House of Mr. Stone Byrne Street

82/1457

08 March 1882

Rev. John Ryley Presbyterian Minister

No	6
Date of Notice	08 March 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Peter Lees	Martha Jane Pearson
BDM Match (91%)	Andrew Yates Lees	Martha Jane Pearson
	💍 1882/732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Engineer	Milliner
Age	25 years	22
Dwelling Place	Byrne Street Port Chalmers	Byrne Street Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 months	3 months
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr. Stone Byrne Street
Folio	82/1457
Consent
Date of Certificate	08 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Ryley 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).