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 666

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

188

14 May 1880

John James Tanner
Ellen Brot

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Servant

27
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 months
4 months

In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street

14 May 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	188
Date of Notice	14 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Tanner	Ellen Brot
BDM Match (8%)
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Servant
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 months	4 months
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

189

15 May 1880

Hugh Brown
Margery Galletly

Hugh Brown
Margery Galletly
💍 1880/1842

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

24
21

Christchurch
Templeton

4 years
21 years

In the Presbyterian Church Cashel Street

80/1114

15 May 1880

Rev. J. Elmslie Presbyterian

No	189
Date of Notice	15 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Brown	Margery Galletly
	💍 1880/1842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Templeton
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church Cashel Street
Folio	80/1114
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Elmslie Presbyterian

190

15 May 1880

Thomas Jeal
Mary Ann Elizabeth Thomson

Thomas Jeal
Mary Ann Elizabeth Thompson
💍 1880/236

Bachelor
Spinster

Overseer

30
21

Halkett
Riccarton

6 mth
21 years

In the Presbyterian Church Halkett

80/2781

15 May 1880

Rev. H. B. Burnett Presbyterian

No	190
Date of Notice	15 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Jeal	Mary Ann Elizabeth Thomson
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Jeal	Mary Ann Elizabeth Thompson
	💍 1880/236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Overseer
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Halkett	Riccarton
Length of Residence	6 mth	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church Halkett
Folio	80/2781
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Burnett Presbyterian

191

17 May 1880

William Smith
Ellen Clark

William Smith
Helen Clark
💍 1880/1433

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Servant

33
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
6 months

In St. Pauls Church, Cashel Street

80/1114

17 May 1880

Rev. J. Elmslie Presbyterian

No	191
Date of Notice	17 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Smith	Ellen Clark
BDM Match (91%)	William Smith	Helen Clark
	💍 1880/1433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Servant
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	In St. Pauls Church, Cashel Street
Folio	80/1114
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Elmslie Presbyterian

192

17 May 1880

John Hopkin Edmonds
Laura Bartlett

John Hopkin Edmonds
Laura Bartlett
💍 1880/1831

Widower
Widow

Professor Music

30
33

Sydenham
Sydenham

1 year
1 year

In the house of Rev. J. Elmslie Latimer Square

80/1113

17 May 1880

Rev. J. Elmslie Presbyterian

No	192
Date of Notice	17 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hopkin Edmonds	Laura Bartlett
	💍 1880/1831
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Professor Music
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. J. Elmslie Latimer Square
Folio	80/1113
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Elmslie Presbyterian

193

17 May 1880

Thomas Morland
Jane Ward

Thomas Morland
Jane Ward
💍 1880/1702

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

37
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
2 months

In St. Saviours Sydenham

80/1184

17 May 1880

Rev. H. B. Cocks Church of England

No	193
Date of Notice	17 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Morland	Jane Ward
	💍 1880/1702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	2 months
Marriage Place	In St. Saviours Sydenham
Folio	80/1184
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Cocks Church of England

194

17 May 1880

James Hollis
Lucie Painter

James Holliss
Lucie Painter
💍 1880/1424

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

24
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
2 years

In St. Lukes Church Christchurch

80/1103

17 May 1880

Rev. E A Lingard, Church of England

No	194
Date of Notice	17 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hollis	Lucie Painter
BDM Match (96%)	James Holliss	Lucie Painter
	💍 1880/1424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Lukes Church Christchurch
Folio	80/1103
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E A Lingard, Church of England

195

17 May 1880

Frederick William Gerken
Mary Moor

Frederick William Gerken
Mary Moor
💍 1880/1417

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

20
22

Tai Tapu
Knights Town

20 years
16 years

In the house of Mr. Moor Knights Town

80/1088

John Gerken, Father

17 May 1880

Rev. J. Aldred, Wesleyan

No	195
Date of Notice	17 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Gerken	Mary Moor
	💍 1880/1417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Tai Tapu	Knights Town
Length of Residence	20 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Moor Knights Town
Folio	80/1088
Consent	John Gerken, Father
Date of Certificate	17 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aldred, Wesleyan

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).

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).