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 378

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1888

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

25 January 1888

William Paterson Turnbull
Elizabeth Ann Dunlop

William Paterson Turnbull
Elizabeth Hill Dunlop
💍 1888/110

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

14 years at the house of Mr Kelly
2 years Appleby

88/876

25 January 1888

the Revd Mr Kelly

No	7
Date of Notice	25 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Paterson Turnbull	Elizabeth Ann Dunlop
BDM Match (91%)	William Paterson Turnbull	Elizabeth Hill Dunlop
	💍 1888/110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 years at the house of Mr Kelly	2 years Appleby
Marriage Place
Folio	88/876
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1888
Officiating Minister	the Revd Mr Kelly

6 February 1888

William Todd Fellowes
Elizabeth Eleanor Fellowes

William Todd
Elizabeth Eleanor Fellowes
💍 1888/929

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

28
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days at the office of the Registrar
3 years Invercargill

88/826

Richard Fellowes, Father

6 February 1888

AC Henderson Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	6 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Todd Fellowes	Elizabeth Eleanor Fellowes
BDM Match (79%)	William Todd	Elizabeth Eleanor Fellowes
	💍 1888/929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days at the office of the Registrar	3 years Invercargill
Marriage Place
Folio	88/826
Consent	Richard Fellowes, Father
Date of Certificate	6 February 1888
Officiating Minister	AC Henderson Registrar

6 February 1888

Frederick Swam Lindhold
Cecilia Margaret Lindhold

Frederick Swain
Cecilia Margaret Lindhold
💍 1888/956

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

18
18

Woodend
Woodend

2 years at the house of the Revd Andrew Stobo Invercargill
2 years

88/805

Hodgeo Swam, father; Johana Neilson, mother

6 February 1888

the Revd Andrew Stobo

No	9
Date of Notice	6 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Swam Lindhold	Cecilia Margaret Lindhold
BDM Match (83%)	Frederick Swain	Cecilia Margaret Lindhold
	💍 1888/956
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Woodend	Woodend
Length of Residence	2 years at the house of the Revd Andrew Stobo Invercargill	2 years
Marriage Place
Folio	88/805
Consent	Hodgeo Swam, father; Johana Neilson, mother
Date of Certificate	6 February 1888
Officiating Minister	the Revd Andrew Stobo

7 February 1888

John Logan Bush
Janet Mackie Thomson

John Logan Bush
Janet Mackie Thomson
💍 1888/961

Bachelor
Spinster

Chief officer Telegraph Department

37
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

16 years
6 years

At the Church of England Invercargill

88/809

7 February 1888

Ven: Archdeacon Stocker

No	10
Date of Notice	7 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Logan Bush	Janet Mackie Thomson
	💍 1888/961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chief officer Telegraph Department
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	16 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the Church of England Invercargill
Folio	88/809
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Ven: Archdeacon Stocker

21 February 1888

Patrick Small Boyne
Margaret Mary Boyne

Patrick Small
Margaret Mary Coyne
💍 1888/957

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

30
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days at the Roman Catholic Church Invercargill
3 months Invercargill

88/806

21 February 1888

The Revd Thomas Monroe

No	11
Date of Notice	21 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Small Boyne	Margaret Mary Boyne
BDM Match (82%)	Patrick Small	Margaret Mary Coyne
	💍 1888/957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days at the Roman Catholic Church Invercargill	3 months Invercargill
Marriage Place
Folio	88/806
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1888
Officiating Minister	The Revd Thomas Monroe

22 February 1888

Alexander McKenzie Campbell
Janet Campbell

Alexander McKenzie
Janet Campbell
💍 1888/963

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

28 years at the house of Mr Campbell
19 years Woodend

88/811

Martin Campbell, Father

22 February 1888

The Revd W. Laycock

No	12
Date of Notice	22 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McKenzie Campbell	Janet Campbell
BDM Match (83%)	Alexander McKenzie	Janet Campbell
	💍 1888/963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years at the house of Mr Campbell	19 years Woodend
Marriage Place
Folio	88/811
Consent	Martin Campbell, Father
Date of Certificate	22 February 1888
Officiating Minister	The Revd W. Laycock

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).