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 1163

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1890 Registrar 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

24 July 1890

Ewen Cameron
Phoebe Bridge

Ewen Cameron
Phoebe Bridge
💍 1890/3783

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

22 years
9 years

Church of England, Tay St

90/2722

James Bridge, father

24 July 1890

Ven Archdeacon Stocker

No	58
Date of Notice	24 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ewen Cameron	Phoebe Bridge
	💍 1890/3783
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tay St
Folio	90/2722
Consent	James Bridge, father
Date of Certificate	24 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Stocker

25 July 1890

Richard Burton
Margaret Storey

Richard Bunten
Margaret Storey
💍 1890/1514

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

51
42

Invercargill
Wairarapa

3 days
1 year

House of Rev C Griffen

90/2716

25 July 1890

Rev C Griffen

No	59
Date of Notice	25 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Burton	Margaret Storey
BDM Match (93%)	Richard Bunten	Margaret Storey
	💍 1890/1514
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	51	42
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Wairarapa
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Rev C Griffen
Folio	90/2716
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev C Griffen

4 August 1890

Hugh McKerrow
Clara Grace Rissetto

Hugh McKerrow
Clara Grace Risetto
💍 1890/1517

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

24
23

Invercargill
Otatara Bush

3 days
1 week

House of Rev T H Lyon

90/2729

4 August 1890

Rev T H Lyon

No	60
Date of Notice	4 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McKerrow	Clara Grace Rissetto
BDM Match (98%)	Hugh McKerrow	Clara Grace Risetto
	💍 1890/1517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Otatara Bush
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	House of Rev T H Lyon
Folio	90/2729
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev T H Lyon

5 August 1890

William Fraser
Isabella Smith

William Fraser
Isabella Smith
💍 1890/1536

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
27

North Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
6 days

House of Mr & Mrs Fraser

90/2726

5 August 1890

Rev Geo Lindsay

No	61
Date of Notice	5 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fraser	Isabella Smith
	💍 1890/1536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	6 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr & Mrs Fraser
Folio	90/2726
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Lindsay

5 August 1890

Henry Vincent Haddock
Evelyn Brooks

Henry Vincent Haddock
Evelyn Brooks
💍 1890/3793

Widower
Spinster

Traveller

42
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

10 years
4 years

St John's Church, Bay Street

90/2723

5 August 1890

Ven Archdeacon Stocker

No	62
Date of Notice	5 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Vincent Haddock	Evelyn Brooks
	💍 1890/3793
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Traveller
Age	42	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Bay Street
Folio	90/2723
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1890
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Stocker

11 August 1890

John Buchanan Hay
Jemima Campbell

John Buchanan Hay
Minnie Campbell
💍 1890/1524

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

24
24

Invercargill
Woodend

8 years
12 years

House of Rev McKenzie, Esk Street

90/2736

11 August 1890

Rev John Ferguson

No	63
Date of Notice	11 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Buchanan Hay	Jemima Campbell
BDM Match (80%)	John Buchanan Hay	Minnie Campbell
	💍 1890/1524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Woodend
Length of Residence	8 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev McKenzie, Esk Street
Folio	90/2736
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev John Ferguson

12 August 1890

William Willis
Mary Drummond Cox

William Willis
Mary Dunsmore Cox
💍 1890/1523

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

41
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
27 years

House of Rev John Ferguson

90/2735

12 August 1890

Rev John Ferguson

No	64
Date of Notice	12 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Willis	Mary Drummond Cox
BDM Match (85%)	William Willis	Mary Dunsmore Cox
	💍 1890/1523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	41	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev John Ferguson
Folio	90/2735
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev John Ferguson

13 August 1890

William Duffan
Christina Maxwell

William Meffan
Christina Maxwell
💍 1890/1526

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

29
25

Clifton
Clifton

8 years
2 months

House of Rev J Ferguson

90/2737

13 August 1890

Rev John Ferguson

No	65
Date of Notice	13 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Duffan	Christina Maxwell
BDM Match (93%)	William Meffan	Christina Maxwell
	💍 1890/1526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Clifton	Clifton
Length of Residence	8 years	2 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev J Ferguson
Folio	90/2737
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1890
Officiating Minister	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 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).