Intentions to Marry, 1890

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840402, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 321

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1880 Registrar Thomas Knuckey

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

8 February 1880

Edward Cleveland
Jane Chesser McLachlan

Edward Cleveland
Jane Kerr McLachlan
💍 1890/746

Widower
Spinster

Stevedore
Nil

37
25

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

10 years
5 weeks

House of Edward Cleveland at Port Chalmers

90/750

8 February 1880

Rev. W. M. Grant, Congregational

No	1
Date of Notice	8 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Cleveland	Jane Chesser McLachlan
BDM Match (89%)	Edward Cleveland	Jane Kerr McLachlan
	💍 1890/746
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Stevedore	Nil
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	10 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Edward Cleveland at Port Chalmers
Folio	90/750
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Grant, Congregational

27 February 1880

John Jackson
Margaret Miller

John Jackson
Margaret Miller
💍 1890/553

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Nil

23
20

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

23 years
7 years

House of Isabella Miller at Port Chalmers

90/640

Isabella Miller, mother

27 February 1880

Rev. J. Kyle, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	27 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Jackson	Margaret Miller
	💍 1890/553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Nil
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	23 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Isabella Miller at Port Chalmers
Folio	90/640
Consent	Isabella Miller, mother
Date of Certificate	27 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kyle, Presbyterian

18 March 1880

Archibald Alexander Smith
Elizabeth Jamieson

Alexander Smith
Elizabeth Jamieson
💍 1890/743

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Servant

25
24

Sawyers Bay, Port Chalmers
Sawyers Bay, Port Chalmers

1 day
14 days

House of Walter Henry Sawyers Bay

90/747

18 March 1880

Rev. J. Kyle, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	18 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Alexander Smith	Elizabeth Jamieson
BDM Match (80%)	Alexander Smith	Elizabeth Jamieson
	💍 1890/743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Servant
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay, Port Chalmers	Sawyers Bay, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	1 day	14 days
Marriage Place	House of Walter Henry Sawyers Bay
Folio	90/747
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kyle, Presbyterian

18 March 1880

John Greig
Charlotte Strow

John Greig
Charlotte Stevens
💍 1890/744

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Nil

52
47

Deborah Bay, Port Chalmers
Deborah Bay, Port Chalmers

13 years
20 years

House of Charlotte Strow, Deborah Bay

90/748

18 March 1880

Rev. J. Kyle, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	18 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Greig	Charlotte Strow
BDM Match (85%)	John Greig	Charlotte Stevens
	💍 1890/744
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Nil
Age	52	47
Dwelling Place	Deborah Bay, Port Chalmers	Deborah Bay, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	13 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Charlotte Strow, Deborah Bay
Folio	90/748
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kyle, Presbyterian

19 March 1880

Robert Marr
Mary McLeod

Robert Marr
Mary McLeod
💍 1890/745

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

33
24

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

10 days
5 weeks

House of Robert Marr

90/749

19 March 1880

Rev. F. P. Platts, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	19 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Marr	Mary McLeod
	💍 1890/745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	10 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Robert Marr
Folio	90/749
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. P. Platts, Church of England

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 1908. 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).