Intentions to Marry, 1889

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840401, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 1149

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1889

No	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
69	23 August 1889	Andrew Hamilton Short Jane Rankin Short	Andrew Hamilton Stobo Jane Rankin Mann 💍 1889/2603	Widower Widow	Clergyman	57 30	Richmond Grove East Invercargill	29 years 5 years	House of Rev. Thos Alexander	89/2602		23 August 1889	Rev. Thos Alexander
70	24 August 1889	John Toomey Mary Faulkner	John Toomey Mary Faulkiner 💍 1889/2602	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 23	Emokoreta Long Bush	10 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church	89/2611		24 August 1889	Rev. Michael Walsh
71	29 August 1889	Edgar Pope Emma Louisa Ryce	Edgar Pope Emma Louisa Sycamore 💍 1889/2605	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	25 24	Invercargill Invercargill	4 years 5 years	House of Rev. Pope, Ruth St.	89/2614		29 August 1889	Rev. James Guy
72	29 August 1889	Peter Gardner Campbell Patton Lavinia Caroline Wilson	Peter Gardiner Campbell Patton Lavina Caroline Wilson 💍 1889/2666	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	19 21	Long Bush Long Bush	8 years 14 years	Office of the Registrar	89/2632	Euphemia Hail, Mother of Peter Gardner Campbell Patton	29 August 1889	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar
73	31 August 1889	Alexander Cochrane Ann Elizabeth Grieve	Alexander Cochrane Ann Elizabeth Grieve 💍 1889/2664	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 26	Spar Bush Oporo	4 years 26 years	House of Rev. Grieve, Branch Rd.	89/2630		31 August 1889	Rev. J. H. Mackenzie
74	5 September 1889	Frederick John Hamer Margaret Hope	Fredrick John Hamer Margaret Martin Wyse 💍 1889/2615	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	29 32	Invercargill Invercargill	3 days 8 years	House of Rev. Geo. Lindsay	89/2623		5 September 1889	Rev. Geo. Lindsay
75	24 September 1889	David William Mackay Jeanie Harriet Wilson	David William McKay Naomi Harriett Wilson 💍 1889/3446	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 20	Invercargill Invercargill	22 years 4 years	House of Rev. J. R. Mackay, Esk St.	89/3497	Home in Colony authorized by See Dec/89 return. Harriet Wilson	9 October 1889	Rev. J. F. Standing
76	24 September 1889	John Findlay Agnes Scott	John Findlay Agnes Scott 💍 1889/3410	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	26 24	Ryal Bush Invercargill	3 years 24 years	House of Rev. Thos Scott, Seramika Road	89/3405		24 September 1889	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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).