Intentions to Marry, 1895 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840407, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025.

1895 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 846

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1895 Registrar J. W. Wilkie

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

10 April 1895

Edward Ernest Defour
Selina Mary Ann Thompson

Edward Ernest de Joux
Selina Mary Annie Thompson
💍 1895/670

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

23
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

23 years
4 years

House of Rev. Geo. Lindsay

95/1919

James Thompson, Father

10 April 1895

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	37
Date of Notice	10 April 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Ernest Defour	Selina Mary Ann Thompson
BDM Match (87%)	Edward Ernest de Joux	Selina Mary Annie Thompson
	💍 1895/670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	23 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Geo. Lindsay
Folio	95/1919
Consent	James Thompson, Father
Date of Certificate	10 April 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

10 April 1895

James Harraway
Jesse Law Goodfellow

James Harraway
Jessie Law Goodwillie
💍 1895/677

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

29
31

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
6 years

House of Mrs. Goodfellow, 6 Clyde Street

95/1926

10 April 1895

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	38
Date of Notice	10 April 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Harraway	Jesse Law Goodfellow
BDM Match (88%)	James Harraway	Jessie Law Goodwillie
	💍 1895/677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Goodfellow, 6 Clyde Street
Folio	95/1926
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

10 April 1895

Henry Smith
Mary Elizabeth Bailey

Henry Smith
Mary Elizabeth Bailey
💍 1895/673

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

24
30

Wairarawa
Wairarawa

3 years
6 years

Office of the Registrar

95/1902

10 April 1895

J. W. Wilkie, Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	10 April 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Smith	Mary Elizabeth Bailey
	💍 1895/673
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	30
Dwelling Place	Wairarawa	Wairarawa
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	95/1902
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1895
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkie, Registrar

13 April 1895

Thomas Mulhare
Annie Esther

Thomas Mulhare
Annie Tither
💍 1895/681

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
10 months

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street

95/1907

13 April 1895

Rev. Nicholas Bereker

No	40
Date of Notice	13 April 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mulhare	Annie Esther
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Mulhare	Annie Tither
	💍 1895/681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	10 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street
Folio	95/1907
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. Nicholas Bereker

13 April 1895

William Robert Petrie
Mary Flora Maguire

William Robert Petrie
Mary Flora Maguire
💍 1895/671

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

34
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

32 years
28 years

Presbyterian Manse, Kelvin Street

95/1920

13 April 1895

Rev. George Lindsay

No	41
Date of Notice	13 April 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Petrie	Mary Flora Maguire
	💍 1895/671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	32 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Kelvin Street
Folio	95/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Lindsay

16 April 1895

Francis Downey
Delia McNamara

Francis Downey
Delia McNamara
💍 1895/682

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewery hand

31
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

11 years
26 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street

95/1908

16 April 1895

Rev. Nicholas Bereker

No	42
Date of Notice	16 April 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Downey	Delia McNamara
	💍 1895/682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewery hand
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	11 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street
Folio	95/1908
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. Nicholas Bereker

19 April 1895

Edward Tayles
Fanny Allan

Edward Tayles
Fanny Allen
💍 1895/662

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

43
33

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
1 day

Office of the Registrar

95/1901

19 April 1895

J. W. Wilkie, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	19 April 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Tayles	Fanny Allan
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Tayles	Fanny Allen
	💍 1895/662
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	43	33
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	95/1901
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1895
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkie, Registrar

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).