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 681

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

301

28 July 1880

Frederick King
Sophia Arnold

Frederick King
Sophia Arnold
💍 1880/2349

Bachelor
Widow

Engineer

31
34

Christchurch
Papanui

18 months
7 years

In the Avonside Church

80/2000

28 July 1880

Rev. W.A. Pascoe Church of England

No	301
Date of Notice	28 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick King	Sophia Arnold
	💍 1880/2349
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Engineer
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Papanui
Length of Residence	18 months	7 years
Marriage Place	In the Avonside Church
Folio	80/2000
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.A. Pascoe Church of England

302

31 July 1880

William Taylor
Catherine Wallace

William Taylor
Catherine Wallace
💍 1880/301

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

25
23

Springston
Springston

11 years
2 years

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

80/2666

31 July 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	302
Date of Notice	31 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Taylor	Catherine Wallace
	💍 1880/301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Springston	Springston
Length of Residence	11 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/2666
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

303

2 August 1880

Arthur William Blennerhassett
Alma Sarah Davidson Hunter

Arthur William Blennerhassett
Alma Sarah Davison Hunter
💍 1880/2412

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
8 days

In St. Lukes, Church Christchurch

80/2670

2 August 1880

Rev. E A Lingard, Church of England

No	303
Date of Notice	2 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Blennerhassett	Alma Sarah Davidson Hunter
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur William Blennerhassett	Alma Sarah Davison Hunter
	💍 1880/2412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	8 days
Marriage Place	In St. Lukes, Church Christchurch
Folio	80/2670
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E A Lingard, Church of England

304

2 August 1880

Randal McAlister
Mary Allen

Randal McAlister
Mary Allen
💍 1880/305

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

22
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

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

80/2670

2 August 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	304
Date of Notice	2 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Randal McAlister	Mary Allen
	💍 1880/305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/2670
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

305

2 August 1880

John McQuean
McEwen - written in pencil
Elizabeth Berry

John McEwen
Elizabeth Berry
💍 1880/303

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

26
18

Sydenham
Sydenham

4 years
4 years

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

80/2668

Christina Berry, mother

2 August 1880

Rev. C. Fraser Presbyterian

No	305
Date of Notice	2 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McQuean McEwen - written in pencil	Elizabeth Berry
BDM Match (88%)	John McEwen	Elizabeth Berry
	💍 1880/303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/2668
Consent	Christina Berry, mother
Date of Certificate	2 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser Presbyterian

306

2 August 1880

Frederick John Smith
Mary Jane Davey

Frederick John Smith
Mary Jane Davey
💍 1880/302

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

23
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
2 years

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

80/2667

2 August 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	306
Date of Notice	2 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Smith	Mary Jane Davey
	💍 1880/302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/2667
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

307

2 August 1880

Joseph Johnston
Martha Farrar

Joseph Johnston
Martha Farrer
💍 1880/2324

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

38
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

In the Registrars Office Christchurch

80/1992

2 August 1880

Registrar, Marriages, J W Parkerson

No	307
Date of Notice	2 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Johnston	Martha Farrar
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph Johnston	Martha Farrer
	💍 1880/2324
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	38	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	80/1992
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Marriages, J W Parkerson

308

2 August 1880

Daniel Meara
Winifred Bruder

Daniel Meara
Winifred Bruder
💍 1880/2419

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

29
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
4 years

In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch

80/2042

2 August 1880

Rev. L Ginaty, Roman Catholic

No	308
Date of Notice	2 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Meara	Winifred Bruder
	💍 1880/2419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch
Folio	80/2042
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. L Ginaty, Roman Catholic

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).