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 1096

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

153

4 October 1880

Thomas Surman
Florence Warwick

Thomas Surman
Florence Warwick
💍 1880/356

Widower
Spinster

Brewer

39
28

East Invercargill
Dunedin

4 years

At the office of the Registrar Dunedin

80/705

4 October 1880

Registrar Dunedin

No	153
Date of Notice	4 October 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Surman	Florence Warwick
	💍 1880/356
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Brewer
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	East Invercargill	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar Dunedin
Folio	80/705
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Registrar Dunedin

154

4 October 1880

Archibald Raggott
Mary Jane Edwards

Archibald Baggott
Mary Jane Edwards
💍 1880/439

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

24
17

Woodlands
Woodlands

18 years
2 years

At the office of the Registrar

80/714

William Edwards Father

4 October 1880

Registrar

No	154
Date of Notice	4 October 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Raggott	Mary Jane Edwards
BDM Match (97%)	Archibald Baggott	Mary Jane Edwards
	💍 1880/439
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Woodlands
Length of Residence	18 years	2 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar
Folio	80/714
Consent	William Edwards Father
Date of Certificate	4 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Registrar

155

9 October 1880

George Horgrove
Catherine Cross

George Norgrove
Catherine Cross
💍 1880/522

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Servant

27
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
12 months

At the house of Rev. J. Gray

80/700

9 October 1880

Rev. J. H. Gray Wesleyan Minister

No	155
Date of Notice	9 October 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Horgrove	Catherine Cross
BDM Match (97%)	George Norgrove	Catherine Cross
	💍 1880/522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Servant
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Rev. J. Gray
Folio	80/700
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Gray Wesleyan Minister

156

18 October 1880

John Briske
Laura Searle

John Christie
Laura Searle
💍 1880/526

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Governess

33
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 years

At St Johns Church

80/704

George Smales Searle Father

18 October 1880

Rev. W. S. Tanner Church of England Minister

No	156
Date of Notice	18 October 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Briske	Laura Searle
BDM Match (85%)	John Christie	Laura Searle
	💍 1880/526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Governess
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	At St Johns Church
Folio	80/704
Consent	George Smales Searle Father
Date of Certificate	18 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Tanner Church of England Minister

157

18 October 1880

William John Frances Fryer
Caroline Collinson

William John Francis Fryer
Caroline Collinson
💍 1880/527

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

22
20

Makerewa
Makerewa

6 years
2 weeks

At the Church of England

81/705

Richard Collinson Father

18 October 1880

Rev. W. S. Tanner Church of England Minister

No	157
Date of Notice	18 October 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Frances Fryer	Caroline Collinson
BDM Match (98%)	William John Francis Fryer	Caroline Collinson
	💍 1880/527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Makerewa	Makerewa
Length of Residence	6 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	At the Church of England
Folio	81/705
Consent	Richard Collinson Father
Date of Certificate	18 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Tanner Church of England Minister

158

18 October 1880

Arthur William Dawson
Henrietta Bonney

Arthur William Dawson
Henrietta Bonney
💍 1880/521

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

24
21

One Tree Point
One Tree Point

5 years
1 year

At the house of John Henry Dawson

81/699

18 October 1880

Rev. Josiah Ward Primitive Methodist Minister

No	158
Date of Notice	18 October 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Dawson	Henrietta Bonney
	💍 1880/521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	One Tree Point	One Tree Point
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the house of John Henry Dawson
Folio	81/699
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. Josiah Ward Primitive Methodist 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).

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).