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 1167

District of Quarter ending

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

5 June 1882

James Russell
Agnes McSporran

James Russell
Agnes McSporran
💍 1882/2182

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24
19

Oteramika
do

2 years
1 year

At the house of Mrs Mc Sporran

82/1100

Mary McSporran Mother

5 June 1882

Rev. I Alexander Presbyterian Minister Woodlands

No	53
Date of Notice	5 June 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Russell	Agnes McSporran
	💍 1882/2182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Oteramika	do
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs Mc Sporran
Folio	82/1100
Consent	Mary McSporran Mother
Date of Certificate	5 June 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I Alexander Presbyterian Minister Woodlands

5 June 1882

Henry Harvey
Elizabeth Smith

Henry Harvey
Elizabeth Smith
💍 1882/1877

Bachelor
Spinster

Lawyer

28
18

Seaward Bush
do

1 year
5 years

At the house of Rev. I Ferguson

82/1107

George Smith Father

5 June 1882

Rev. I. Ferguson Presbyterian Minister Invercargill

No	54
Date of Notice	5 June 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Harvey	Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1882/1877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lawyer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Seaward Bush	do
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Rev. I Ferguson
Folio	82/1107
Consent	George Smith Father
Date of Certificate	5 June 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Ferguson Presbyterian Minister Invercargill

9 June 1882

William Allan
Mary McIvor

William Allan
Mary McIvor
💍 1882/2166

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

29
21

Invercargill
do

4 days
3 months

At the Office of the Registrar Invercargill

82/1108

9 June 1882

A C Henderson Registrar Invercargill

No	55
Date of Notice	9 June 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Allan	Mary McIvor
	💍 1882/2166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	do
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar Invercargill
Folio	82/1108
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1882
Officiating Minister	A C Henderson Registrar Invercargill

14 June 1882

James Campbell
Jane McWhirter

James Campbell
Jane McWhirter
💍 1882/2167

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

34
32

Invercargill
do

12 months
6 weeks

At the Office of the Registrar Invercargill

82/1109

14 June 1882

A C Henderson Registrar Invercargill

No	56
Date of Notice	14 June 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Campbell	Jane McWhirter
	💍 1882/2167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	do
Length of Residence	12 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar Invercargill
Folio	82/1109
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1882
Officiating Minister	A C Henderson Registrar Invercargill

15 June 1882

Charles Reynolds
Margaret Barrett

Charles Reynolds
Margaret Barrett
💍 1882/2159

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper
Domestic Servant

28
26

Strathearn
Appleby

8 years
4 years

At the Roman Catholic Church

82/11693

15 June 1882

Rev. I McEnroe Roman Catholic Minister Invercargill

No	57
Date of Notice	15 June 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Reynolds	Margaret Barrett
	💍 1882/2159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Domestic Servant
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Strathearn	Appleby
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	82/11693
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I McEnroe Roman Catholic 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).