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 680

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

293

24 July 1880

Abraham Parish
Martha Spink Goodrick

Abraham Parish
Martha Spink Goodrick
💍 1880/2410

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright

21
17

Springston
Springston

3 years
15 years

In the Springston Church

80/2024

Robert Goodrick, Father

24 July 1880

Rev. J.F. Teakle, Church of England

No	293
Date of Notice	24 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abraham Parish	Martha Spink Goodrick
	💍 1880/2410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Springston	Springston
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the Springston Church
Folio	80/2024
Consent	Robert Goodrick, Father
Date of Certificate	24 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.F. Teakle, Church of England

294

26 July 1880

Charles Bourke
Mary McGregor

Charles Bourke
Mary McGregor
💍 1880/321

Bachelor
Spinster

Artist

30
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
5 years

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

80/2662

No person having authority

26 July 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	294
Date of Notice	26 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bourke	Mary McGregor
	💍 1880/321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artist
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/2662
Consent	No person having authority
Date of Certificate	26 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

295

26 July 1880

James Osborn
Amelia Thompson

James Osborn
Amelia Thompson
💍 1880/2323

Bachelor
Spinster

Portmanteau maker

23
21

Sydenham
Sydenham

2 months
2 months

In the Registrars Office Christchurch

80/1991

26 July 1880

Registrar Marriages J W Parkerson

No	295
Date of Notice	26 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Osborn	Amelia Thompson
	💍 1880/2323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Portmanteau maker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	80/1991
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Registrar Marriages J W Parkerson

296

27 July 1880

Robert Didden
Georgene Shackleton

Robert Diddon
Georgene Shackleton
💍 1880/2352

Bachelor
Spinster

Book Keeper

22
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 weeks
3 months

In the German Church Montreal Street

80/2021

27 July 1880

Rev. P.G. Jacobsen, Lutheran

No	296
Date of Notice	27 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Didden	Georgene Shackleton
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Diddon	Georgene Shackleton
	💍 1880/2352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Book Keeper
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 weeks	3 months
Marriage Place	In the German Church Montreal Street
Folio	80/2021
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.G. Jacobsen, Lutheran

297

27 July 1880

George William Hodges
Eliza Pidgeon

George William Hodges
Eliza Emma Pidgeon
💍 1880/323

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
1 week

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

80/2664

27 July 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	297
Date of Notice	27 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Hodges	Eliza Pidgeon
BDM Match (86%)	George William Hodges	Eliza Emma Pidgeon
	💍 1880/323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/2664
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

298

27 July 1880

Henry William Smith
Mary Jane Thonboe

Henry William Smith
Mary Jane Thornboe
💍 1880/2445

Widower
Spinster

Wardsman
Nurse

41
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
2 years

In St. Michaels Church Christchurch

80/2101

27 July 1880

Rev. E.G. Penny Church of England

No	298
Date of Notice	27 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Smith	Mary Jane Thonboe
BDM Match (97%)	Henry William Smith	Mary Jane Thornboe
	💍 1880/2445
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Wardsman	Nurse
Age	41	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Michaels Church Christchurch
Folio	80/2101
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E.G. Penny Church of England

299

28 July 1880

Arthur Appleby
Alice Mary Barnett

Arthur Appleby
Alice Mary Barnett
💍 1880/2411

Widower
Spinster

Accountant

32
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
4 years

In St Lukes Church Christchurch

80/2033

28 July 1880

Rev. E A Lingard, Church of England

No	299
Date of Notice	28 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Appleby	Alice Mary Barnett
	💍 1880/2411
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In St Lukes Church Christchurch
Folio	80/2033
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E A Lingard, Church of England

300

28 July 1880

William Shephard
Elizabeth Wilkins

William Shepherd
Elizabeth Wilkins
💍 1880/300

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Master

26
21

Opawa
Opawa

6 months
4 months

In the house of Mr. Shephard, Opawa

80/2665

28 July 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	300
Date of Notice	28 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Shephard	Elizabeth Wilkins
BDM Match (97%)	William Shepherd	Elizabeth Wilkins
	💍 1880/300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Master
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Opawa
Length of Residence	6 months	4 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Shephard, Opawa
Folio	80/2665
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

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).