Intentions to Marry, 1884

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840396, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 150

District of Tokomairiro Quarter ending 31 March 1884 Registrar Hugh Gourley

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

507

5 January 1884

George Harris
Jane Sneddon

George Harris
Jane Sneddon
💍 1884/1906

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Servant

23
19

Tokomairiro
Tokomairiro

7 months
8 years

In the house of Robert Sneddon, Table Hill, Tokomairiro

84/160

Robert Sneddon, Father

5 January 1884

Rev James Skinner, Presbyterian

No	507
Date of Notice	5 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harris	Jane Sneddon
	💍 1884/1906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Servant
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	7 months	8 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Robert Sneddon, Table Hill, Tokomairiro
Folio	84/160
Consent	Robert Sneddon, Father
Date of Certificate	5 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev James Skinner, Presbyterian

508

28 January 1884

Henry Croft
Agnes McMeekan

Henry Croft
Agnes McMeikau
💍 1884/1909

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
27

Tokomairiro
Tokomairiro

5 years
4 weeks

In the house of Richard Croft, Clarendon, Tokomairiro

84/162

28 January 1884

Rev George Hall, Presbyterian

No	508
Date of Notice	28 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Croft	Agnes McMeekan
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Croft	Agnes McMeikau
	💍 1884/1909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	5 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Richard Croft, Clarendon, Tokomairiro
Folio	84/162
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev George Hall, Presbyterian

509

2 February 1884

Samuel Edward Denniston
Margaret McEwan

Samuel Edward Denniston
Margaret McElwee
💍 1884/1905

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

35
35

Tokomairiro
Tokomairiro

3 years
15 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Tokomairiro

84/159

2 February 1884

Hugh Gourley, Registrar

No	509
Date of Notice	2 February 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Edward Denniston	Margaret McEwan
BDM Match (91%)	Samuel Edward Denniston	Margaret McElwee
	💍 1884/1905
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Tokomairiro
Folio	84/159
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1884
Officiating Minister	Hugh Gourley, Registrar

510

29 February 1884

James Thornton Brown
Amy Croft

James Thornton Brown
Amy Croft
💍 1884/1910

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

23
23

Tokomairiro
Tokomairiro

5 years
1 year

In the house of Richard Croft, Clarendon, Tokomairiro

84/163

29 February 1884

Rev George Hall, Presbyterian

No	510
Date of Notice	29 February 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thornton Brown	Amy Croft
	💍 1884/1910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of Richard Croft, Clarendon, Tokomairiro
Folio	84/163
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev George Hall, Presbyterian

511

1 March 1884

Thomas Hood
Christina Catherine Lilburne

Thomas Hood
Christina Catherine Lilburne
💍 1884/1904

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
20

Tokomairiro
Tokomairiro

12 years
6 years

In the house of Andrew Lilburne, Milton

84/158

Andrew Lilburne, Father

1 March 1884

Rev James Chisholm, Presbyterian

No	511
Date of Notice	1 March 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hood	Christina Catherine Lilburne
	💍 1884/1904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Andrew Lilburne, Milton
Folio	84/158
Consent	Andrew Lilburne, Father
Date of Certificate	1 March 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev James Chisholm, Presbyterian

512

31 March 1884

Peter Stewart
Jessie McFarlane

Peter Stewart
Jessie McFarlane
💍 1884/2525

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

54
33

Tokomairiro
Dunedin

9 years
2 years

In the house of John McFarlane, Cannongate St, Dunedin

84/168

31 March 1884

Rev Ronald McStuart, Presbyterian

No	512
Date of Notice	31 March 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Stewart	Jessie McFarlane
	💍 1884/2525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	54	33
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John McFarlane, Cannongate St, Dunedin
Folio	84/168
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev Ronald McStuart, Presbyterian

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).