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 1171

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1883

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

24 January 1883

John Buckley
Annie McKendry

John Buckley
Anne McKendry
💍 1883/768

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Cook

28
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 week
10 months

At the Roman Catholic Church

83/159

24 January 1883

Revd. J. Monroe, Roman Catholic Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	24 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Buckley	Annie McKendry
BDM Match (96%)	John Buckley	Anne McKendry
	💍 1883/768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Cook
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 week	10 months
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	83/159
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. Monroe, Roman Catholic Minister

3 February 1883

John Hamilton
Agnes Graham Marshall

John Hamilton
Agnes Graham Marshall
💍 1883/748

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

35
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
23 years

At the house of Mrs Marshall

83/455

3 February 1883

Revd. J. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	3 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton	Agnes Graham Marshall
	💍 1883/748
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs Marshall
Folio	83/455
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister

5 February 1883

Thomas Shepherd Milne
Mary Ann Smith

Thomas Shepherd Milne
Mary Ann Smith
💍 1883/827

James Thomas Pratt
Mary Ann Smith
💍 1883/2077

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Woodlands
One Tree Point

18 years
22 years

At the house of Alexander Smith

83/443

5 February 1883

Revd. J. Alexander, Presbyterian Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	5 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Shepherd Milne	Mary Ann Smith
	💍 1883/827
BDM Match (62%)	James Thomas Pratt	Mary Ann Smith
	💍 1883/2077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	One Tree Point
Length of Residence	18 years	22 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Alexander Smith
Folio	83/443
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. Alexander, Presbyterian Minister

6 February 1883

John Affleck
Catherine McGuiness

John Affleck
Catherine McGuiness
💍 1883/759

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Servant

24
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
5 years

At the house of Mrs Gellatly

83/456

6 February 1883

Revd. J. Patterson, Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	6 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Affleck	Catherine McGuiness
	💍 1883/759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Servant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs Gellatly
Folio	83/456
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. Patterson, Presbyterian Minister

7 February 1883

George Ward
Ellen Scully

George Ward
Ellen Scully
💍 1883/835

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

33
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

14 days
5 weeks

At the office of the Registrar

83/450

Mary Scully, mother

7 February 1883

Arthur C. Henderson, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	7 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ward	Ellen Scully
	💍 1883/835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar
Folio	83/450
Consent	Mary Scully, mother
Date of Certificate	7 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Arthur C. Henderson, Registrar

12 February 1883

John Thompson
Kate Agnes Nutsford

John Thompson
Kate Agnes Nutsford
💍 1883/838

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

24
23

Ryal Bush
Ryal Bush

20 years
3 days

At the office of the Registrar

83/453

12 February 1883

Arthur C. Henderson, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	12 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thompson	Kate Agnes Nutsford
	💍 1883/838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Ryal Bush	Ryal Bush
Length of Residence	20 years	3 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar
Folio	83/453
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Arthur C. Henderson, Registrar

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).