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 1164

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1882 Registrar Arthur Chillas 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

3 May 1882

Charles McDonald
Grace Margaret Ylason

Charles McDonald
Grace Margaret Fraser
💍 1882/2177

Bachelor
Spinster

Labour

34
26

Invercargill
do

3 days
3 days

At the house of the Rev. I Paterson

82/1675

3 May 1882

Rev. I Paterson, Presbyterian Minister, Invercargill

No	38
Date of Notice	3 May 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles McDonald	Grace Margaret Ylason
BDM Match (91%)	Charles McDonald	Grace Margaret Fraser
	💍 1882/2177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labour
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	do
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the house of the Rev. I Paterson
Folio	82/1675
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I Paterson, Presbyterian Minister, Invercargill

3 May 1882

Thomas Biggie Creighton
Bridget Sarvey

Thomas Higgie Creighton
Bridget Garvey
💍 1882/1869

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Servant

33
22

Invercargill
do

3 days
12 months

At the house of D. Cameron, Invercargill

82/1680

3 May 1882

Rev. I Ferguson, Presbyterian Minister, Invercargill

No	39
Date of Notice	3 May 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Biggie Creighton	Bridget Sarvey
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Higgie Creighton	Bridget Garvey
	💍 1882/1869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Servant
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	do
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	At the house of D. Cameron, Invercargill
Folio	82/1680
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I Ferguson, Presbyterian Minister, Invercargill

4 May 1882

Alexander Neidner
Isabella Urquhart
formerly Fraser

Alexander Niederer
Isabella Urquhart
💍 1882/2162

Bachelor
Widow

Sawyer
Storekeeper

30
30

Invercargill
do

3 days
12 months

At the Office of the Registrar, Invercargill

82/1704

4 May 1882

Al Henderson, Registrar, Invercargill

No	40
Date of Notice	4 May 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Neidner	Isabella Urquhart formerly Fraser
BDM Match (89%)	Alexander Niederer	Isabella Urquhart
	💍 1882/2162
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sawyer	Storekeeper
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	do
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	82/1704
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1882
Officiating Minister	Al Henderson, Registrar, Invercargill

6 May 1882

Michael Duggan
Margaret Boyle

Michael Duggan
Margaret Boyle
💍 1882/1882

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

28
25

Invercargill
do

5 days
4 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

82/1692

6 May 1882

Rev. Y McEnroe, Roman Catholic Minister, Invercargill

No	41
Date of Notice	6 May 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Duggan	Margaret Boyle
	💍 1882/1882
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	do
Length of Residence	5 days	4 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	82/1692
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. Y McEnroe, Roman Catholic Minister, Invercargill

8 May 1882

John Gilbert McMaster
Isabella McMaster

John Gilbert
Isabella McMaster
💍 1882/1870

Bachelor
Spinster

Lawyer
Machinist

22
22

North Invercargill
East Invercargill

6 years
17 years

At the house of I McMaster, East Invercargill

82/1681

8 May 1882

Rev. I Ferguson, Presbyterian Minister, Invercargill

No	42
Date of Notice	8 May 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gilbert McMaster	Isabella McMaster
BDM Match (79%)	John Gilbert	Isabella McMaster
	💍 1882/1870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lawyer	Machinist
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	East Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	17 years
Marriage Place	At the house of I McMaster, East Invercargill
Folio	82/1681
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I Ferguson, Presbyterian 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 1908. 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).