Intentions to Marry, 1880

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840392, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 888

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1880 Registrar Archibald Reid Ure

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

240

20 July 1880

John Smith
Helen Grant

John Smith
Helen Grant
💍 1880/2991

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

46 years
35 years

Mornington
Dunedin

1 week
3 days

In the house of John Grant Dowling Street Dunedin

80/2139

20 July 1880

Revd L. Mackie Presbyterian Minister

No	240
Date of Notice	20 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Helen Grant
	💍 1880/2991
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	46 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of John Grant Dowling Street Dunedin
Folio	80/2139
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd L. Mackie Presbyterian Minister

241

22 July 1880

John Driley Frew
Mary McCutcheon

John O'Riley Frew
Mary McCutcheon
💍 1880/2857

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Servant

26 years
23 years

Dunedin
South Dunedin

18 years
6 days

In the house of Hugh McCutcheon South Dunedin

80/2153

22 July 1880

Revd Dr Stuart Presbyterian Minister

No	241
Date of Notice	22 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Driley Frew	Mary McCutcheon
BDM Match (91%)	John O'Riley Frew	Mary McCutcheon
	💍 1880/2857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Servant
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 years	6 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Hugh McCutcheon South Dunedin
Folio	80/2153
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart Presbyterian Minister

242

22 July 1880

Henry Bennett
Lena King

Henry Bennett
Lena King
💍 1880/2096

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Housemaid

26 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
14 days

In St Matthews Church Dunedin

80/1784

22 July 1880

Revd C J Byng Church of England Minister

No	242
Date of Notice	22 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bennett	Lena King
	💍 1880/2096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Housemaid
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	14 days
Marriage Place	In St Matthews Church Dunedin
Folio	80/1784
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd C J Byng Church of England Minister

243

24 July 1880

Neil McNeil Shaw
Agnes Dickson

Neil McNeil Shaw
Agnes Dickson
💍 1880/2650

Bachelor
Widow

Sawyer

34 years
33 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
7 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

80/2176

24 July 1880

A.R. Ure Registrar of Marriages

No	243
Date of Notice	24 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil McNeil Shaw	Agnes Dickson
	💍 1880/2650
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sawyer
Age	34 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	80/2176
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1880
Officiating Minister	A.R. Ure Registrar of Marriages

244

26 July 1880

Henry John Davis
Sara Harriet Cantrell

Henry John Davis
Sarah Harriet Cantrell
💍 1880/2127

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders

28 years
21 years

Caversham
Caversham

2 years
2 months

In St Peters Church Caversham

80/1815

26 July 1880

Right Revd Dr Nevill Church of England Bishop

No	244
Date of Notice	26 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Davis	Sara Harriet Cantrell
BDM Match (98%)	Henry John Davis	Sarah Harriet Cantrell
	💍 1880/2127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders
Age	28 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	2 years	2 months
Marriage Place	In St Peters Church Caversham
Folio	80/1815
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Right Revd Dr Nevill Church of England Bishop

245

26 July 1880

George Pratt
Mary Anne Howson

George Pratt
Mary Anne Thomson
💍 1880/2647

Widower
Widow

Carpenter

46 years
45 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 months
2 months

In St. Pauls Church Dunedin

80/2196

26 July 1880

Revd E.G. Edwards Church of England Minister

No	245
Date of Notice	26 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Pratt	Mary Anne Howson
BDM Match (91%)	George Pratt	Mary Anne Thomson
	💍 1880/2647
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	46 years	45 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	In St. Pauls Church Dunedin
Folio	80/2196
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd E.G. Edwards Church of England Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).