Intentions to Marry, 1888

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840400, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 783

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1888 Registrar John Winstanley Wilkin

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

18 June 1888

Thomas Daniel Kuigland
Rosina Louisa Wild

Thomas Daniel Kingsland
Rosina Louisa Wild
💍 1888/1907

Bachelor
Spinster

Tanner

26
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

25 years
22 years

St Johns Church Invercargill

88/1869

18 June 1888

Rev. H. Stocker

No	51
Date of Notice	18 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Daniel Kuigland	Rosina Louisa Wild
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Daniel Kingsland	Rosina Louisa Wild
	💍 1888/1907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tanner
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Invercargill
Folio	88/1869
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Stocker

25 June 1888

John Edward Ducoran
Louisa McCarthy

John Edward Moran
Louisa McCarthy
💍 1888/2037

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23
18

South Invercargill
South Invercargill

5 years
6 years

House of Mr McCarthy North Invercargill

88/1877

Mr McCarthy, father

25 June 1888

Rev. John Ferguson

No	52
Date of Notice	25 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Ducoran	Louisa McCarthy
BDM Match (92%)	John Edward Moran	Louisa McCarthy
	💍 1888/2037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	South Invercargill	South Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr McCarthy North Invercargill
Folio	88/1877
Consent	Mr McCarthy, father
Date of Certificate	25 June 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Ferguson

25 June 1888

Laurence Kunnerty
Jane Paty Stevenson

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

32
20

Invercargill
Ruakarewa

1 week
13 years

Office of Registrar Invercargill

88/1891

Mother

25 June 1888

J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

No	53
Date of Notice	25 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Kunnerty	Jane Paty Stevenson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Ruakarewa
Length of Residence	1 week	13 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar Invercargill
Folio	88/1891
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	25 June 1888
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

26 June 1888

Daniel Buckley
Delia McGuire

Daniel Buckley
Delia McGuire
💍 1888/2020

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

27
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
5 years

At the Roman Catholic Church Invercargill

88/1883

26 June 1888

Rev. Mr Dooley

No	54
Date of Notice	26 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Buckley	Delia McGuire
	💍 1888/2020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church Invercargill
Folio	88/1883
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr Dooley

26 June 1888

Alexander Hampton Davidson
Annie Reid McDermid

Alexander Hampton Davidson
Annie Reid McDermid
💍 1888/2021

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

32
25

Invercargill
Waianiwa

3 days
18 years

House of Mr D. McDermid Waianiwa

88/1884

26 June 1888

Rev. J. H. Mackenzie

No	55
Date of Notice	26 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Hampton Davidson	Annie Reid McDermid
	💍 1888/2021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waianiwa
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr D. McDermid Waianiwa
Folio	88/1884
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Mackenzie

26 June 1888

Thomas Kerr Waddell
Margaret Robertson

Thomas Ken Waddell
Margaret Robertson
💍 1888/2038

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 days
3 weeks

House of Rev. John Ferguson Invercargill

88/1878

26 June 1888

Rev. John Ferguson

No	56
Date of Notice	26 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Kerr Waddell	Margaret Robertson
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Ken Waddell	Margaret Robertson
	💍 1888/2038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Rev. John Ferguson Invercargill
Folio	88/1878
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Ferguson

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).