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 1074

District of Unknown Quarter ending 1880

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

8 January 1880

Eldred Charles Godwin
Mary Hall

Eldred Charles Godwin
Mary Hall
💍 1880/1031

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

22
17

Invercargill
Invercargill

9 months
1 year

At the office of the Registrar

80/57

Thomas Hall, father

8 January 1880

Arthur L. Henderson, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	8 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eldred Charles Godwin	Mary Hall
	💍 1880/1031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 months	1 year
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar
Folio	80/57
Consent	Thomas Hall, father
Date of Certificate	8 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Arthur L. Henderson, Registrar

13 January 1880

Henry Garron
Mary Steven

Henry Garron
Mary Steven
💍 1880/1363

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic Servant

28
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 years
1 year

At the house of Rev. James Paterson

81/3

13 January 1880

Rev. James Paterson

No	7
Date of Notice	13 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Garron	Mary Steven
	💍 1880/1363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic Servant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the house of Rev. James Paterson
Folio	81/3
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Paterson

15 January 1880

George McLeod
Marion Sadlier

George McLeod
Marion Sadlier
💍 1880/1146

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
22

One Tree Point
Mona Bush

4 years
6 months

At the house of Mr. Sadlier

80/589

15 January 1880

Rev. Mr. Alexander

No	8
Date of Notice	15 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McLeod	Marion Sadlier
	💍 1880/1146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	One Tree Point	Mona Bush
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Sadlier
Folio	80/589
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Alexander

21 January 1880

William Mason Elliott
Jane Wylie Brown

William Mason Eliott
Jane Wylie Brown
💍 1880/1041

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent

24
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

18 months
7 years

At the Church of England, Gladstone

80/550

21 January 1880

Rev. John Dewe

No	9
Date of Notice	21 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mason Elliott	Jane Wylie Brown
BDM Match (98%)	William Mason Eliott	Jane Wylie Brown
	💍 1880/1041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 months	7 years
Marriage Place	At the Church of England, Gladstone
Folio	80/550
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Dewe

4 February 1880

Richard Jennings
Margaret Jennings

Richard Jennings
Margaret Jennings
💍 1880/1042

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

26
22

Waikivi
Waikivi

2 years
12 months

At the Church of England, Gladstone

80/581

4 February 1880

Rev. Mr. Dewe

No	10
Date of Notice	4 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Jennings	Margaret Jennings
	💍 1880/1042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Waikivi	Waikivi
Length of Residence	2 years	12 months
Marriage Place	At the Church of England, Gladstone
Folio	80/581
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Dewe

4 February 1880

Samuel Scott
Sarah Pickeram

Samuel Scott
Sarah Rickeram
💍 1880/1364

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

35
22

Edendale
Edendale

8 years
1 year

At the house of Alexander Anglis

80/738

4 February 1880

Rev. J. J. Paterson

No	11
Date of Notice	4 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Scott	Sarah Pickeram
BDM Match (96%)	Samuel Scott	Sarah Rickeram
	💍 1880/1364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Edendale	Edendale
Length of Residence	8 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the house of Alexander Anglis
Folio	80/738
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Paterson

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

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).

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).