Intentions to Marry, 1892

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840404, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

Page 1283

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1882 Registrar Normal Kiddell

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

5 January 1882

John Henderson
Isabella McIntyre

John Henderson
Isabella McIntyre Tait
💍 1892/754

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

43
49

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

6 days
14 days

House of John Tait, Port Chalmers

92/796

5 January 1882

Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henderson	Isabella McIntyre
BDM Match (89%)	John Henderson	Isabella McIntyre Tait
	💍 1892/754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	43	49
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	6 days	14 days
Marriage Place	House of John Tait, Port Chalmers
Folio	92/796
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

26 January 1882

Patrick Mackie
Ellen Roche

Patrick Mackie
Ellen Roche
💍 1892/2710

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic Servant

33
30

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

2 years
3 months

House of J. Lynch, Port Chalmers

26 January 1882

Rev. J. C. O'Donnell, Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	26 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Mackie	Ellen Roche
	💍 1892/2710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Servant
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	House of J. Lynch, Port Chalmers
Folio	X
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. O'Donnell, Catholic

27 January 1882

Patrick Mackie
Ellen Roche

Patrick Mackie
Ellen Roche
💍 1892/2710

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic Servant

33
30

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

2 years
3 months

Catholic Church, Port Chalmers

92/2868

27 January 1882

Rev. J. C. O'Donnell, Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	27 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Mackie	Ellen Roche
	💍 1892/2710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Servant
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	92/2868
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. O'Donnell, Catholic

27 January 1882

Magnus Jamieson
Margaret Henderson

Magnus Jamieson
Margaret Anderson
💍 1892/4039

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Servant

24
23

Sawyers Bay near Port Chalmers
Sawyers Bay near Port Chalmers

4 days
4 days

House of W. Henry, Sawyers Bay

92/797

27 January 1882

Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	27 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Magnus Jamieson	Margaret Henderson
BDM Match (94%)	Magnus Jamieson	Margaret Anderson
	💍 1892/4039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Servant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay near Port Chalmers	Sawyers Bay near Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	House of W. Henry, Sawyers Bay
Folio	92/797
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

28 January 1882

John Davidson
Jennie McEwen

John Davidson
Jeannie McInnes
💍 1892/45

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Nil

25
23

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

2 years
23 years

House of C. Mc Ewen, Waikouaiti

92/800

28 January 1882

Rev. R. L. Fitchett, Congregational

No	5
Date of Notice	28 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Davidson	Jennie McEwen
BDM Match (83%)	John Davidson	Jeannie McInnes
	💍 1892/45
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Nil
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of C. Mc Ewen, Waikouaiti
Folio	92/800
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Fitchett, Congregational

4 February 1882

John McLachlan
Margaret Hearn

John McLachlan
Margaret Horne
💍 1892/755

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nil

31
27

Port Chalmers
Waikouaiti

3 years
27 years

House of Robt Hearn, at Waikouaiti

92/798

4 February 1882

Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	4 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLachlan	Margaret Hearn
BDM Match (89%)	John McLachlan	Margaret Horne
	💍 1892/755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nil
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Waikouaiti
Length of Residence	3 years	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Robt Hearn, at Waikouaiti
Folio	92/798
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

13 February 1882

Alexander Robbie
Elizabeth Jemima Jack

Alexander Dobbie
Elizabeth Tomina Jack
💍 1892/753

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nil

25
20

Sawyers Bay near Port Chalmers
Sawyers Bay near Port Chalmers

4 days
3 months

House of A. Jack, Sawyers Bay

92/795

Alexander Jack, father

13 February 1882

Rev. R. Borrie, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	13 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Robbie	Elizabeth Jemima Jack
BDM Match (90%)	Alexander Dobbie	Elizabeth Tomina Jack
	💍 1892/753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nil
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay near Port Chalmers	Sawyers Bay near Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	House of A. Jack, Sawyers Bay
Folio	92/795
Consent	Alexander Jack, father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Borrie, Presbyterian

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).