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 643

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1880 Registrar J W Parkerson

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

12 January 1880

Edward Grange Quartermain
Jane Quartermain

Edward Grange Quartermain
Jane Quartermain
💍 1880/936

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
5 years

St Lukes Church Christchurch

80/298

12 January 1880

Rev. E A Lingard

No	9
Date of Notice	12 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Grange Quartermain	Jane Quartermain
	💍 1880/936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church Christchurch
Folio	80/298
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E A Lingard

12 January 1880

James Harvey
Barbara Nicholson

James Harvey
Barbara Nicholson
💍 1880/1093

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

27
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

In the Registrars Office, Christchurch

80/436

Hugh Nicholson, father

12 January 1880

J W Parkerson, Registrar Marriages

No	10
Date of Notice	12 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Harvey	Barbara Nicholson
	💍 1880/1093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office, Christchurch
Folio	80/436
Consent	Hugh Nicholson, father
Date of Certificate	12 January 1880
Officiating Minister	J W Parkerson, Registrar Marriages

13 January 1880

Thomas Sweet
Mary Ann Steer

Thomas Sweet
Mary Ann Steer
💍 1880/1003

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Sydenham
Sydenham

4 years
4 years

In the house of Rev. A. Peters Sydenham

80/316

William Steer, father

13 January 1880

Rev. A. Peters

No	11
Date of Notice	13 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Sweet	Mary Ann Steer
	💍 1880/1003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. A. Peters Sydenham
Folio	80/316
Consent	William Steer, father
Date of Certificate	13 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters

15 January 1880

Maurice Tondut
Ada Hamilton

Maurice Tondert
Ada Hamilton
💍 1880/1094

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

37
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

In the Registrars Office Christchurch

80/437

15 January 1880

J W Parkerson, Registrar Marriages

No	12
Date of Notice	15 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Tondut	Ada Hamilton
BDM Match (93%)	Maurice Tondert	Ada Hamilton
	💍 1880/1094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	80/437
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1880
Officiating Minister	J W Parkerson, Registrar Marriages

15 January 1880

Carl Adolphus Schmidt
Rosetta Clark

Carl Adolphus Schmidt
Rosetta Clark
💍 1880/937

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
22

Papanui Road
Caledonian Road

16 years
2 years

In St Matthews Church, Knights Town

80/299

15 January 1880

Rev. R. A Mortimer

No	13
Date of Notice	15 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Adolphus Schmidt	Rosetta Clark
	💍 1880/937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Papanui Road	Caledonian Road
Length of Residence	16 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In St Matthews Church, Knights Town
Folio	80/299
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. A Mortimer

15 January 1880

Henry Sawtell
Maria Parnham

Henry Sawtell
Maria Pamlan
💍 1880/684

Widower
Spinster

Merchant

47
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
19 years

In St Johns Church Christchurch

80/2704

15 January 1880

Rev. H. C. M. Watson

No	14
Date of Notice	15 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Sawtell	Maria Parnham
BDM Match (85%)	Henry Sawtell	Maria Pamlan
	💍 1880/684
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	47	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In St Johns Church Christchurch
Folio	80/2704
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. C. M. Watson

19 January 1880

Robert Reed Field
Elizabeth Watson

Robert Reed Field
Elizabeth Watson
💍 1880/990

Bachelor
Widow

Bricklayer
Servant

24
28

Addington
Addington

3 weeks
3 weeks

In the house of Rev. C. Fraser Tuam Street

80/378

19 January 1880

Rev. C. Fraser

No	15
Date of Notice	19 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Reed Field	Elizabeth Watson
	💍 1880/990
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bricklayer	Servant
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser Tuam Street
Folio	80/378
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

19 January 1880

Robert William Pengelly
Isabella Isherwood

Robert William Pengelly
Isabella Isherwood
💍 1880/1095

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Dressmaker

21
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 yrs
16 yrs

In the Registrars Office, Christchurch

80/438

Mary Waine, mother

19 January 1880

Registrar of Marriages J W Parkerson

No	16
Date of Notice	19 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Pengelly	Isabella Isherwood
	💍 1880/1095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Dressmaker
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 yrs	16 yrs
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office, Christchurch
Folio	80/438
Consent	Mary Waine, mother
Date of Certificate	19 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages J W Parkerson

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).