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 Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1880 Registrar Arthur C Henderson

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

4 October 1880

Thomas Surman
Florence Warwick

Thomas Surman
Florence Warwick
💍 1880/356

Widower
Spinster

Brewer

39
28

East Invercargill
Dunedin

7 years

At the office of the Registrar Dunedin

80/2905

4 October 1880

Registrar Dunedin

No	73
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	7 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar Dunedin
Folio	80/2905
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Registrar Dunedin

7 October 1880

Archibald Baggott
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 Invercargill

80/3014

William Edwards Father

7 October 1880

Arthur C Henderson, Registrar

No	74
Date of Notice	7 October 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	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 Invercargill
Folio	80/3014
Consent	William Edwards Father
Date of Certificate	7 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Arthur C Henderson, Registrar

9 October 1880

George Norgrove
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. H Gray, Invercargill

80/3000

Wm Cross, father

9 October 1880

Rev. J. H. Gray Wesleyan Minister

No	75
Date of Notice	9 October 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	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. H Gray, Invercargill
Folio	80/3000
Consent	Wm Cross, father
Date of Certificate	9 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Gray Wesleyan Minister

18 October 1880

John Christie
Laura Searle

John Christie
Laura Searle
💍 1880/526

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Governess

33
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 years

At St Johns Church Invercargill

80/3004

George Smales Searle Father

18 October 1880

Rev. W. P. Tanner Church of England Minister

No	76
Date of Notice	18 October 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	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 Invercargill
Folio	80/3004
Consent	George Smales Searle Father
Date of Certificate	18 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Tanner Church of England Minister

18 October 1880

William John Francis 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 Invercargill

80/3005

Richard Collinson Father

18 October 1880

Rev. W. P. Tanner Church of England Minister

No	77
Date of Notice	18 October 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	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 Invercargill
Folio	80/3005
Consent	Richard Collinson Father
Date of Certificate	18 October 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Tanner Church of England Minister

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, One Tree Point

80/2999

18 October 1880

Rev. Josiah Ward Primitive Methodist Minister

No	78
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, One Tree Point
Folio	80/2999
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).

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).