Intentions to Marry, 1883

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840395, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

Page 1179

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1883

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

21 May 1883

Edward Bevan Jones
Lucy Anna Froggatt

Edward Bevan Jones
Lucy Anna Froggatt
💍 1883/1739

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

31
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

8 years
14 years

At the house of George Froggatt, Tay Street

83/1664

George Froggatt, Father

21 May 1883

Rev. J. Dutton, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	44
Date of Notice	21 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bevan Jones	Lucy Anna Froggatt
	💍 1883/1739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	14 years
Marriage Place	At the house of George Froggatt, Tay Street
Folio	83/1664
Consent	George Froggatt, Father
Date of Certificate	21 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dutton, Primitive Methodist Minister

21 May 1883

Bartholomew Hynes
Cecelia Cavanagh

Bartholomew Hynes
Cecilia Cavaugh
💍 1883/1551

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

24
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 weeks
4 years

At the Roman Catholic Church

83/1634

21 May 1883

Rev. Thos. McEnroe, Roman Catholic Minister

No	45
Date of Notice	21 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bartholomew Hynes	Cecelia Cavanagh
BDM Match (91%)	Bartholomew Hynes	Cecilia Cavaugh
	💍 1883/1551
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 weeks	4 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	83/1634
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. McEnroe, Roman Catholic Minister

29 May 1883

Malcolm Mason Thomson
Grace Brown

Malcolm McConachie
Grace Brown
💍 1883/1733

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
19

Forest Hill
Forest Hill

18 years
14 years

At the office of the Registrar, Invercargill

83/1661

Thomas Thomson, Father

29 May 1883

The Registrar, Invercargill

No	46
Date of Notice	29 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Mason Thomson	Grace Brown
BDM Match (79%)	Malcolm McConachie	Grace Brown
	💍 1883/1733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	19
Dwelling Place	Forest Hill	Forest Hill
Length of Residence	18 years	14 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	83/1661
Consent	Thomas Thomson, Father
Date of Certificate	29 May 1883
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Invercargill

29 May 1883

Alfred Laing
Eleanor Wilson

Alfred Taine
Eleanor Wilson
💍 1883/2372

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

30
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 1/2 years
1 year

At the Church of England

29 May 1883

Rev. H. Stocker, Church of England Minister

No	47
Date of Notice	29 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Laing	Eleanor Wilson
BDM Match (92%)	Alfred Taine	Eleanor Wilson
	💍 1883/2372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the Church of England
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Stocker, Church of England Minister

2 June 1883

Daniel McCallum
Jennie McDermid

Daniel McCallum
Jeanie McDermid
💍 1883/1730

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman

24
18

Waianawa
Waianawa

3 years
18 years

At the house of Duncan McDermid, Waianawa

83/1646

Duncan McDermid, Father

2 June 1883

Rev. J.H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister

No	48
Date of Notice	2 June 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel McCallum	Jennie McDermid
BDM Match (97%)	Daniel McCallum	Jeanie McDermid
	💍 1883/1730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Waianawa	Waianawa
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Duncan McDermid, Waianawa
Folio	83/1646
Consent	Duncan McDermid, Father
Date of Certificate	2 June 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister

4 June 1883

James Hodges
Harriet Woodward
formerly Woodworth

James Hodges
Harriet Woodward
💍 1883/1724

Widower
Widow

Labourer

34
34

Clifton North
Invercargill North

3 years
6 months

At the house of Joseph Woodward, North Invercargill

83/1640

4 June 1883

Rev. H. Stocker, Church of England Minister

No	49
Date of Notice	4 June 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hodges	Harriet Woodward formerly Woodworth
BDM Match (73%)	James Hodges	Harriet Woodward
	💍 1883/1724
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Clifton North	Invercargill North
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Joseph Woodward, North Invercargill
Folio	83/1640
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Stocker, Church of England Minister

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).