Intentions to Marry, 1886

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840398, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 363

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1886 Registrar Arthur 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

4 January 1886

George John Gubell
Mary Lampert

George John Gutsell
Mary Lampert
💍 1886/975

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

27
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
4 days

At the Office of the Registrar

86/865

4 January 1886

A. C. Henderson Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Gubell	Mary Lampert
BDM Match (95%)	George John Gutsell	Mary Lampert
	💍 1886/975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar
Folio	86/865
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1886
Officiating Minister	A. C. Henderson Registrar

4 January 1886

Alexander Phillips
Jane Naera
formerly Butterfield

Alexander Phillips
Jane Walker
💍 1886/976

Bachelor
Widow

Mariner

40
45

Long Bush
Long Bush

7 days
7 years

At the Office of the Registrar

86/866

4 January 1886

A. C. Henderson Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Phillips	Jane Naera formerly Butterfield
BDM Match (82%)	Alexander Phillips	Jane Walker
	💍 1886/976
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mariner
Age	40	45
Dwelling Place	Long Bush	Long Bush
Length of Residence	7 days	7 years
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar
Folio	86/866
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1886
Officiating Minister	A. C. Henderson Registrar

4 January 1886

William Alfred Norris
Mary Lillias Tait

William Alfred Norris
Mary Lillias Tait
💍 1886/1013

Bachelor
Spinster

Telemaker
Domestic Servant

22
21

Waikivi
Waikivi

8 years
3 weeks

At the Church of England

86/849

4 January 1886

The Reverend John Hinton

No	3
Date of Notice	4 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Norris	Mary Lillias Tait
	💍 1886/1013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telemaker	Domestic Servant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Waikivi	Waikivi
Length of Residence	8 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	At the Church of England
Folio	86/849
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1886
Officiating Minister	The Reverend John Hinton

10 January 1886

Herbert Main
Elizabeth Ann Smith

Herbert Mann
Elizabeth Ann Smith
💍 1886/977

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

28
21

North Invercargill
North Invercargill

3 years
11 months

Office of the Registrar

86/867

10 January 1886

A. C. Henderson Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	10 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Main	Elizabeth Ann Smith
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert Mann	Elizabeth Ann Smith
	💍 1886/977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	11 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	86/867
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1886
Officiating Minister	A. C. Henderson Registrar

18 January 1886

Henry Theodore Hotop
Ada Maria Perkins

Henry Theodore Hotop
Ada Maria Perkins
💍 1886/1014

Widower
Spinster

Chemist

30
25

Waikivi
Waikivi

3 days
22 years

At the Church of England

86/880

18 January 1886

Reverend Harry Stocker

No	5
Date of Notice	18 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Theodore Hotop	Ada Maria Perkins
	💍 1886/1014
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Waikivi	Waikivi
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	At the Church of England
Folio	86/880
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Reverend Harry Stocker

20 January 1886

James Falconer
Ann Persia McCurdy

James Falconer
Annie Persia McCurdy
💍 1886/1017

Widower
Spinster

Tinsmith
Domestic Servant

32
21

Georgetown
Elmwood

11 years
1 week

At the House of the Reverend D. Gordon, Invercargill

86/883

20 January 1886

The Reverend David Gordon

No	6
Date of Notice	20 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Falconer	Ann Persia McCurdy
BDM Match (95%)	James Falconer	Annie Persia McCurdy
	💍 1886/1017
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith	Domestic Servant
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Georgetown	Elmwood
Length of Residence	11 years	1 week
Marriage Place	At the House of the Reverend D. Gordon, Invercargill
Folio	86/883
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1886
Officiating Minister	The Reverend David Gordon

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).