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 1158

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1882 Registrar Arthur Suller 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

11 February 1882

Patrick Dwyer
Catherine Byan

Patrick Dwyer
Catherine Ryan
💍 1882/814

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

31
25

Avenal
East Invercargill

3 days
Smells Invercargill

At the Roman Catholic Church

82/815

14 February 1882

Rev. Mr. McGrath R. Collinister

No	1
Date of Notice	11 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Dwyer	Catherine Byan
BDM Match (96%)	Patrick Dwyer	Catherine Ryan
	💍 1882/814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Avenal	East Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	Smells Invercargill
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	82/815
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. McGrath R. Collinister

12 February 1882

Joseph Stock
Margaret Cameron

Joseph Stock
Margaret Cameron
💍 1882/816

Widower
Spinster

Merchant

45
31

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
18 years East Invercargill

At the House of Treble Stock

82/816

20 February 1882

Rev. J. Gibson R. Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	12 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Stock	Margaret Cameron
	💍 1882/816
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	45	31
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years East Invercargill
Marriage Place	At the House of Treble Stock
Folio	82/816
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson R. Minister

13 February 1882

John Hines
Agnes Cleary

John Hines
Agnes Cleary
💍 1882/815

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
3 days Invercargill

At the Office of the Registrar

82/798

21 February 1882

Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	13 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hines	Agnes Cleary
	💍 1882/815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days Invercargill
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar
Folio	82/798
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Registrar

14 February 1882

Thomas Samuel Raeburn
Sarah Welsh

Thomas Samuel Raeburn
Sarah Welsh
💍 1882/805

Thomas Hamilton
Mary Welsh
💍 1882/845

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter
Saloress

32
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 years
3 years Invercargill

At the House of Rev. J. Ferguson

82/806

23 February 1882

Rev. J. Ferguson Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	14 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Samuel Raeburn	Sarah Welsh
	💍 1882/805
BDM Match (63%)	Thomas Hamilton	Mary Welsh
	💍 1882/845
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Saloress
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years Invercargill
Marriage Place	At the House of Rev. J. Ferguson
Folio	82/806
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ferguson Presbyterian Minister

15 February 1882

Donald Williamson
Rhoda Carter

Donald Williamson
Rhoda Carter
💍 1882/824

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

28
20

Woodlands
Woodlands

3 days
4 months Woodlands

At the House of Mr. E. Dewe

82/801

Elizabeth Dewe, Mother

28 February 1882

Rev. J. Alexander Presbyterian Minister Woodlands

No	5
Date of Notice	15 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Williamson	Rhoda Carter
	💍 1882/824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Woodlands
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months Woodlands
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr. E. Dewe
Folio	82/801
Consent	Elizabeth Dewe, Mother
Date of Certificate	28 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Alexander Presbyterian Minister Woodlands

16 February 1882

Daniel Smith
Erice Chapman

Daniel Smith
Jessie Chapman
💍 1882/825

Widower
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Servant

31
30

Gladstone
Gladstone

4 months
4 months Fairleigh Invercargill

At the House of Mr. P. Fairclough

82/802

28 February 1882

Rev. P.M. Fairclough Wesleyan Minister Invercargill

No	6
Date of Notice	16 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Smith	Erice Chapman
BDM Match (82%)	Daniel Smith	Jessie Chapman
	💍 1882/825
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Servant
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Gladstone	Gladstone
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months Fairleigh Invercargill
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr. P. Fairclough
Folio	82/802
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.M. Fairclough Wesleyan Minister Invercargill

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).