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 373

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1889 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

4 January 1889

William Joseph Rallinshaw
Ellina Evand Deocpoot Cartwright

William Joseph Kallinshaw
Ellna Maud Devonport Cartwright
💍 1889/927

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

19
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 weeks
5 weeks

Church of England Tay St

89/110

Roger Rallinshaw Father, Mrs Law Father re person in colony authorised to give consent

19 January 1889

Ven Archdeacon Stocker

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Rallinshaw	Ellina Evand Deocpoot Cartwright
BDM Match (87%)	William Joseph Kallinshaw	Ellna Maud Devonport Cartwright
	💍 1889/927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England Tay St
Folio	89/110
Consent	Roger Rallinshaw Father, Mrs Law Father re person in colony authorised to give consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1889
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Stocker

7 January 1889

Henry Buxton
Alice Grace Lucas

Henry Buxton
Alice Grace Lucas
💍 1889/926

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
21

Duakarewa
Duakarewa

20 years House of Rev K. Reas
8 years Duakarewa

House of Rev K. Reas

89/109

7 January 1889

Rev J. Mackenzie

No	2
Date of Notice	7 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Buxton	Alice Grace Lucas
	💍 1889/926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Duakarewa	Duakarewa
Length of Residence	20 years House of Rev K. Reas	8 years Duakarewa
Marriage Place	House of Rev K. Reas
Folio	89/109
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Mackenzie

9 January 1889

Theophilus Wake
Mary Frances Ick

Theophilus Wake
Mary Frances Ick
💍 1889/890

Bachelor
Spinster

Constable

22
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar

89/122

9 January 1889

J. W. Wilkin Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	9 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theophilus Wake	Mary Frances Ick
	💍 1889/890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Constable
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	89/122
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1889
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkin Registrar

9 January 1889

John Hanning
Mary Jessop

John Hanning
Mary MacSporran
💍 1889/923

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Master

22
20

Wyndham
Oteramika Gorge

3 years Wyndham
8 years Residence of Rev Hugh Hancon

Residence of Rev Hugh Hancon

89/106

Mary Jessop Mother

9 January 1889

Rev Thos Alexander

No	4
Date of Notice	9 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hanning	Mary Jessop
BDM Match (70%)	John Hanning	Mary MacSporran
	💍 1889/923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Master
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Oteramika Gorge
Length of Residence	3 years Wyndham	8 years Residence of Rev Hugh Hancon
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev Hugh Hancon
Folio	89/106
Consent	Mary Jessop Mother
Date of Certificate	9 January 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev Thos Alexander

12 January 1889

John Howie
Margaret Wright Todd

John Howie
Margaret Wright Todd
💍 1889/924

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Manager

43
21

Newfield, Woodlands
Newfield, Woodlands

19 days House of Rev Thos Todd
10 years Woodlands

House of Rev Thos Todd Newfield

89/107

12 January 1889

Rev Thos Alexander

No	5
Date of Notice	12 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Howie	Margaret Wright Todd
	💍 1889/924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Manager
Age	43	21
Dwelling Place	Newfield, Woodlands	Newfield, Woodlands
Length of Residence	19 days House of Rev Thos Todd	10 years Woodlands
Marriage Place	House of Rev Thos Todd Newfield
Folio	89/107
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev Thos Alexander

21 January 1889

William Kerr
Elizabeth Trumper

William Kerr
Elizabeth Mempes
💍 1889/887

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Master

24
18

Woodlands
Invercargill

2 months House of Rev A. Storie, Don St
1 week Invercargill

House of Rev A. Storie, Don St

89/119

Jane Trumper Mother

21 January 1889

Rev Geo Lindsay

No	6
Date of Notice	21 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kerr	Elizabeth Trumper
BDM Match (88%)	William Kerr	Elizabeth Mempes
	💍 1889/887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Master
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 months House of Rev A. Storie, Don St	1 week Invercargill
Marriage Place	House of Rev A. Storie, Don St
Folio	89/119
Consent	Jane Trumper Mother
Date of Certificate	21 January 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Lindsay

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).