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 1531

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 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
84	19 October 1889	David Snarden Ellen Jones	David Maiden Ellen Jones 💍 1889/3412 George Slater Ellen Jones 💍 1889/439	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	25 22	Invercargill Invercargill	5 days 5 days	House of Rev. John Ferguson	89/3486		19 October 1889	Rev. John Ferguson
85	21 October 1889	William John Hanwell Katherine Ellen Mccarthy	William John Hamill Katherine Ellen McCarthy 💍 1889/3448	Widower Spinster	Butcher	40 28	Invercargill Invercargill	20 years 7 years	Church of England, Tay St.	89/3499		21 October 1889	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker
86	29 October 1889	Patrick O'Sullivan Mary Cannon	Patrick O'Sullivan Mary Concannon 💍 1889/3512	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	32 25	Makarewa Wallacetown	5 years 2 months	Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill	89/3507		29 October 1889	Rev. E. Walsh
87	2 November 1889	John Wilson Eliza Jenkins	John Wilson Eliza Jenkins 💍 1889/3432 John Lloyd Elizabeth Jenkins 💍 1889/3492	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 21	Waiariwa Wallacetown	32 years 21 years	House of Mr. John Jenkins, Wallacetown	89/3507		2 November 1889	Rev. J. H. Mackenzie
88	4 November 1889	Allan Laughnan Agnes Robertson	Allan Langmuir Agnes Robertson 💍 1889/3413	Bachelor Spinster	Moulder	23 22	East Invercargill Strathearn	15 years 8 years	House of Mr. John Ferguson, Strathearn	89/3487		4 November 1889	Rev. John Ferguson
89	14 November 1889	James Rogers Emily Kallum	James Rogers Emily Kallm 💍 1889/3436	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 19	Invercargill Makarewa	1 week 9 years	Office of the Registrar	89/3510	Frederick Kallum, father	14 November 1889	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar
90	25 November 1889	William Innes Isabella Barron	William McNee Isabella Barron 💍 1889/3441	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	24 22	Wright's Bush Wright's Bush	3 days 6 years	House of Mr. John Barron, Wright's Bush	89/3515		25 November 1889	Rev. Thomas Heave
91	29 November 1889	Allan Robertson Kyle Eliza Fisher	Allan Robertson Kyles Eliza Fisher 💍 1889/3425	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	38 28	One Tree Point One Tree Point	7 years 20 years	Church of England, Tay St., Invercargill	89/3500		29 November 1889	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

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).