Intentions to Marry, 1883

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840395, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

Page 1178

District of [illegible] Quarter ending 30 June 1873 Registrar Arthur C. 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

28 April 1883

Thomas Leslie Flaus
Margaret Ramsay

Thomas Leslie Flaus
Margaret Ramsay
💍 1883/1727

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
19

North Invercargill
North Invercargill

8 years
9 years

At the house of the Revd I Ferguson, Invercargill

83/1643

Father

28 April 1883

Rev. I Ferguson, Presbyterian Minister

No	38
Date of Notice	28 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Leslie Flaus	Margaret Ramsay
	💍 1883/1727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	9 years
Marriage Place	At the house of the Revd I Ferguson, Invercargill
Folio	83/1643
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	28 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. I Ferguson, Presbyterian Minister

2 May 1883

James Adamson
Margaret Currie

James Adamson
Margaret Currie
💍 1883/1722

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

41
27

Grove Bush
Forest Hill

4 years
4 years

At the house of the Revd I Paterson

83/1650

2 May 1883

Rev. I Paterson, Presbyterian Minister

No	39
Date of Notice	2 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Adamson	Margaret Currie
	💍 1883/1722
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	41	27
Dwelling Place	Grove Bush	Forest Hill
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the house of the Revd I Paterson
Folio	83/1650
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. I Paterson, Presbyterian Minister

4 May 1883

William Donovan
Ellen Hennessy

William Donovan
Ellen Hennessy
💍 1883/1549

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

23
25

Waikivi
Invercargill

3 years
4 months

At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

83/1635

4 May 1883

Rev. Y. McEnroe, Roman Catholic Minister

No	40
Date of Notice	4 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Donovan	Ellen Hennessy
	💍 1883/1549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Waikivi	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	4 months
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	83/1635
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Y. McEnroe, Roman Catholic Minister

8 May 1883

Richard Bourchier
Annie Eugenie Perkins

Richard Bourchier
Annie Eugenic Perkins
💍 1883/1718

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Inspector

31
23

Invercargill
Waikivi

5 days
14 years

At the Church of England, Gladstone

83/1638

8 May 1883

Rev. H. Stocker, Church of England Minister

No	41
Date of Notice	8 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Bourchier	Annie Eugenie Perkins
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Bourchier	Annie Eugenic Perkins
	💍 1883/1718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Inspector
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waikivi
Length of Residence	5 days	14 years
Marriage Place	At the Church of England, Gladstone
Folio	83/1638
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Stocker, Church of England Minister

8 May 1883

Patrick Joyce
Sarah Vehy

Patrick Joyce
Sarah Vahey
💍 1883/1550

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

30
25

West Plains
Waikivi

4 years
3 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

83/1636

8 May 1883

Rev. Thos. McEnroe, Roman Catholic Minister

No	42
Date of Notice	8 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joyce	Sarah Vehy
BDM Match (91%)	Patrick Joyce	Sarah Vahey
	💍 1883/1550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	West Plains	Waikivi
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	83/1636
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. McEnroe, Roman Catholic Minister

11 May 1883

George Bennie
Catherine Kerr

George Bennie
Catherine Kerr
💍 1883/1731

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dairy Maid

23
23

West Plains
West Plains

9 years
9 years

At the house of the Rev. J. G. Paterson, Invercargill

83/1657

11 May 1883

Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister

No	43
Date of Notice	11 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bennie	Catherine Kerr
	💍 1883/1731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dairy Maid
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	West Plains	West Plains
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	At the house of the Rev. J. G. Paterson, Invercargill
Folio	83/1657
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).