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 379

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar Wm. C. 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

28 February 1888

David Taylor
Margaret Mary Grieve

David Taylor
Margaret Mary Grieve
💍 1888/925

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30 years
17 years

Gore
Waianawa

2 years
11 years

At the house of Robert Grieve, Gore

88/814

28 February 1888

J. H. McKenzie

No	13
Date of Notice	28 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Taylor	Margaret Mary Grieve
	💍 1888/925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Gore	Waianawa
Length of Residence	2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Robert Grieve, Gore
Folio	88/814
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1888
Officiating Minister	J. H. McKenzie

29 February 1888

James Sievwright
Ada Galbraith

James Sievwright
Ada Galbraith
💍 1888/943

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

21
21

Invercargill
Seaward Bush

6 years
5 years

At the house of Mr. John Sievwright

88/817

See Return Folio 20

29 February 1888

The Revd. F. W. Isitt

No	14
Date of Notice	29 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sievwright	Ada Galbraith
	💍 1888/943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Seaward Bush
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. John Sievwright
Folio	88/817
Consent	See Return Folio 20
Date of Certificate	29 February 1888
Officiating Minister	The Revd. F. W. Isitt

6 March 1888

Samuel Jackson
Ellen Evans
formerly Slead

Widower
Widow

Hotel Keeper
Housekeeper

55
41

Kennington
Invercargill

6 years
4 days

At the church of England

88/807

See below

6 March 1888

Archdeacon Stocker

No	15
Date of Notice	6 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Jackson	Ellen Evans formerly Slead
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Hotel Keeper	Housekeeper
Age	55	41
Dwelling Place	Kennington	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	4 days
Marriage Place	At the church of England
Folio	88/807
Consent	See below
Date of Certificate	6 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Stocker

8 March 1888

Robert Wood
Grace Tyther Miller

Robert Wood
Grace Tytler Miller
💍 1888/947

Bachelor
Spinster

Presbyterian Minister
Governess

34
34

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

At the house of the Misses McGoun

88/821

8 March 1888

The Revd. John Ferguson

No	16
Date of Notice	8 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Wood	Grace Tyther Miller
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Wood	Grace Tytler Miller
	💍 1888/947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Presbyterian Minister	Governess
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the house of the Misses McGoun
Folio	88/821
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1888
Officiating Minister	The Revd. John Ferguson

17 March 1888

Samuel Jackson
Maria Killeen

Samuel Jackson
Maria Killeen
💍 1888/958

Widower
Spinster

Hotel Keeper
Servant

55 years
28 years

Kennington
Invercargill

6 years
4 years

At the Roman Catholic Presbytery

88/807

17 March 1888

The Revd. Thos. McEnroe

No	17
Date of Notice	17 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Jackson	Maria Killeen
	💍 1888/958
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper	Servant
Age	55 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Kennington	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Presbytery
Folio	88/807
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1888
Officiating Minister	The Revd. Thos. McEnroe

19 March 1888

John James Fairmaid
Agnes Duncan Fairmaid

John James
Agnes Duncan Fairmaid
💍 1888/948

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

31 years
23 years

North Invercargill
East Invercargill

9 years
23 years

At the house of Mr. John Fairmaid

88/822

19 March 1888

The Revd. John Ferguson

No	18
Date of Notice	19 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Fairmaid	Agnes Duncan Fairmaid
BDM Match (76%)	John James	Agnes Duncan Fairmaid
	💍 1888/948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	31 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	East Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	23 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. John Fairmaid
Folio	88/822
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1888
Officiating Minister	The Revd. 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).