Intentions to Marry, 1894

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840406, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 6 2025

Page 804

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1894 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

3 April 1894

James Wilson
Martha Shepherd

James Wilson
Martha Sheppard
💍 1894/2260

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
27

Waianawa
Invercargill

8 years
10 years

The Manse, Wallacetown

94/2131

3 April 1894

Rev. Wm. White

No	21
Date of Notice	3 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wilson	Martha Shepherd
BDM Match (93%)	James Wilson	Martha Sheppard
	💍 1894/2260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Waianawa	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Wallacetown
Folio	94/2131
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. White

9 April 1894

John Sutherland
Fanny Eliza Swale

John Sutherland
Fanny Eliza Swale
💍 1894/2186

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

26
25

Brunswick
Woodlands

12 years
12 years

House of Mr. Thomas Swale, Woodlands

94/1913

9 April 1894

Rev. Thos. Alexander

No	22
Date of Notice	9 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sutherland	Fanny Eliza Swale
	💍 1894/2186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Brunswick	Woodlands
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Thomas Swale, Woodlands
Folio	94/1913
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Alexander

23 April 1894

John Hamilton Smith
Elizabeth Winton Robertson

John Hamilton Smith
Elizabeth Winton Robertson
💍 1894/1934

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

32
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
29 years

House of Rev. Geo. Lindsay, Kelvin St.

94/2043

23 April 1894

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	23
Date of Notice	23 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton Smith	Elizabeth Winton Robertson
	💍 1894/1934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	29 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Geo. Lindsay, Kelvin St.
Folio	94/2043
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

23 April 1894

Peter Patrick McKay
Mary Marshall

Peter Patrick McKay
Mary Marshall
💍 1894/1870

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer

40
28

Invercargill
Woodlands

2 years
2 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

94/1900

23 April 1894

Rev. G. Bereker

No	24
Date of Notice	23 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Patrick McKay	Mary Marshall
	💍 1894/1870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dealer
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Woodlands
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	94/1900
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Bereker

25 April 1894

Andrew Sinclair
Henrietta Elizabeth Hogg

Andrew Sinclair
Henrietta Elizabeth Hogg
💍 1894/2205

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant Tailor

26
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
5 years

St. John's Church, Tay St.

94/1910

25 April 1894

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	25
Date of Notice	25 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Sinclair	Henrietta Elizabeth Hogg
	💍 1894/2205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant Tailor
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Tay St.
Folio	94/1910
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

26 April 1894

David Andrew Hamilton
Ruth Horton

David Andrew Hamilton
Ruth Norton
💍 1894/1971

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
21

Invercargill
South Invercargill

2 years
21 years

House of Rev. A. H. Stobo

94/2058

26 April 1894

Rev. A. H. Stobo

No	26
Date of Notice	26 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Andrew Hamilton	Ruth Horton
BDM Match (95%)	David Andrew Hamilton	Ruth Norton
	💍 1894/1971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	South Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. A. H. Stobo
Folio	94/2058
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Stobo

27 April 1894

Sydney Arthur Stevens
Margaret McBratty

Sydney Arthur Stevens
Margaret McNatty
💍 1894/1935

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

22
23

Invercargill
Gladstone

7 years
23 years

House of Rev. Geo. Lindsay

94/2044

27 April 1894

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	27
Date of Notice	27 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Arthur Stevens	Margaret McBratty
BDM Match (94%)	Sydney Arthur Stevens	Margaret McNatty
	💍 1894/1935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Gladstone
Length of Residence	7 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Geo. Lindsay
Folio	94/2044
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1894
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).