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 670

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

220

1 June 1880

William Owens
Elizabeth Davison

William Owens
Elizabeth Davison
💍 1880/1425

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
20 years

In St. Lukes Church Christchurch

80/1104

William Davison, Father

1 June 1880

Rev. E. A. Lingard, Church of England

No	220
Date of Notice	1 June 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Owens	Elizabeth Davison
	💍 1880/1425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In St. Lukes Church Christchurch
Folio	80/1104
Consent	William Davison, Father
Date of Certificate	1 June 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Lingard, Church of England

221

2 June 1880

William Henry Lawrence
AnnJane Major

William Henry Lawrence
Ann Jane Major
💍 1880/1613

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

25
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
5 days

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

80/1149

2 June 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	221
Date of Notice	2 June 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Lawrence	AnnJane Major
BDM Match (96%)	William Henry Lawrence	Ann Jane Major
	💍 1880/1613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/1149
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

222

2 June 1880

William Thomas Page
Margaret Delahunty

William Thomas Page
Margaret Delahunty
💍 1880/1614

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

29
19

Springston
Springston

9 years
6 months

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

80/1152

No person having authority to consent

2 June 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	222
Date of Notice	2 June 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Page	Margaret Delahunty
	💍 1880/1614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Springston	Springston
Length of Residence	9 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/1152
Consent	No person having authority to consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

223

2 June 1880

Thomas Bradley
Clara Varcoe

Thomas Bradley
Clara Varcoe
💍 1880/1616

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Servant

23
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
2 years

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

80/1152

2 June 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	223
Date of Notice	2 June 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bradley	Clara Varcoe
	💍 1880/1616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Servant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/1152
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

224

3 June 1880

Frederick Piggott Coy
Martha Brickridge

Frederick Piggote Coy
Martha Brickridge
💍 1880/1615

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabman

24
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
3 months

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

80/1157

No person having authority to consent

3 June 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	224
Date of Notice	3 June 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Piggott Coy	Martha Brickridge
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Piggote Coy	Martha Brickridge
	💍 1880/1615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabman
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/1157
Consent	No person having authority to consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

225

5 June 1880

William Hall
Ellen Clarke

William Hall
Ellen Clarke
💍 1880/1462

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

27
23

Waldhurst
Riccarton

10 years
12 years

In the Wesleyan Church

80/1071

5 June 1880

Rev. J. B. Richardson, Wesleyan

No	225
Date of Notice	5 June 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hall	Ellen Clarke
	💍 1880/1462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Waldhurst	Riccarton
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church
Folio	80/1071
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Richardson, Wesleyan

226

7 June 1880

James Connor
Bridget Edith Callbut
Corbett - written in pencil

James Connor
Bridget Edith Corbett
💍 1880/1694

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Laundress

40
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 days
10 days

In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch

80/1177

7 June 1880

Rev. L. Ginaty, Roman Catholic

No	226
Date of Notice	7 June 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Connor	Bridget Edith Callbut Corbett - written in pencil
BDM Match (88%)	James Connor	Bridget Edith Corbett
	💍 1880/1694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Laundress
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch
Folio	80/1177
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Ginaty, Roman Catholic

227

7 June 1880

John Leonard
Alice O'Neil

John Leonard
Alice O'Neill
💍 1880/1696

Widower
Spinster

Maltster
Servant

35
30

Heathcote Valley
Ferry Road

4 Years
7 Years

In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch

80/1179

7 June 1880

Rev. L. Ginaty, Roman Catholic

No	227
Date of Notice	7 June 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Leonard	Alice O'Neil
BDM Match (96%)	John Leonard	Alice O'Neill
	💍 1880/1696
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Maltster	Servant
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Heathcote Valley	Ferry Road
Length of Residence	4 Years	7 Years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch
Folio	80/1179
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Ginaty, Roman Catholic

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).