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 684

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

325

18 August 1880

William Phillips
Johanna Gow

William Phillips
Johanna Gow
💍 1880/308

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
School Mistress

27
22

Weedons
Weedons

2 years
2 years

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

80/2673

18 August 1880

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	325
Date of Notice	18 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Phillips	Johanna Gow
	💍 1880/308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	School Mistress
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Weedons	Weedons
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/2673
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

326

20 August 1880

Nathaniel Joseph Suckling
Sarah Emma Dearsley

Nathaniel Joseph Suckling
Sarah Emma Dearsley
💍 1880/2338

Widower
Spinster

Boot Merchant

38
23

Papanui
Papanui

5 years
4 years

In the house of Mr. Dearsley, Papanui

80/1999

20 August 1880

Rev. W H. Horner, Presbyterian

No	326
Date of Notice	20 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathaniel Joseph Suckling	Sarah Emma Dearsley
	💍 1880/2338
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Boot Merchant
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Dearsley, Papanui
Folio	80/1999
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W H. Horner, Presbyterian

327

23 August 1880

Henry Arthur Bruce
Emma Quartermain

Henry Arthur Bruce
Emma Quartermain
💍 1880/198

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

21
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
5 years

In St. Michaels Church Christchurch

80/2639

23 August 1880

Rev. E.G. Penny, Church of England

No	327
Date of Notice	23 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arthur Bruce	Emma Quartermain
	💍 1880/198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In St. Michaels Church Christchurch
Folio	80/2639
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E.G. Penny, Church of England

328

23 August 1880

Lewis Frederick Garnett
Ada Jeannette Symonds

Lewis Frederick Garnett
Ada Jeannette Symonds
💍 1880/2346

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

22
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 Years
4 years

St. Michaels Church Christchurch

80/2016

Joseph Henry Symonds father

23 August 1880

Rev. E.G. Penny Church of England

No	328
Date of Notice	23 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Frederick Garnett	Ada Jeannette Symonds
	💍 1880/2346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 Years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church Christchurch
Folio	80/2016
Consent	Joseph Henry Symonds father
Date of Certificate	23 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E.G. Penny Church of England

329

26 August 1880

Henry Walter Webb
Eleanor Moffatt

Henry Walter Webb
Eleanor Moffatt
💍 1880/2428

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer
Servant

22
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
2 years

the Baptist Chapel, Oxford Terrace

80/2027

No person having authority to consent

26 August 1880

Rev. C. Dallaston, Baptist

No	329
Date of Notice	26 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Walter Webb	Eleanor Moffatt
	💍 1880/2428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer	Servant
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	the Baptist Chapel, Oxford Terrace
Folio	80/2027
Consent	No person having authority to consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Dallaston, Baptist

330

28 August 1880

George Cook
Elizabeth Johnston

George Cook
Elizabeth Johnston
💍 1880/2347

Widower
Widow

Farmer

55
40

Courtenay
Springston

15 Years
13 Years

St. Michaels Church Christchurch

80/2017

28 August 1880

Rev. E.G. Penny Church of England

No	330
Date of Notice	28 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cook	Elizabeth Johnston
	💍 1880/2347
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	55	40
Dwelling Place	Courtenay	Springston
Length of Residence	15 Years	13 Years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church Christchurch
Folio	80/2017
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E.G. Penny Church of England

331

30 August 1880

Henry Turner
Emily Selina Stephens

Henry Turner
Emily Salina Stephens
💍 1880/2359

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

26
21

Rangiora
Christchurch

3 years
14 days

In the Merivale Church

80/2006

30 August 1880

Rev. T. Flavell, Church of England

No	331
Date of Notice	30 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Turner	Emily Selina Stephens
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Turner	Emily Salina Stephens
	💍 1880/2359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	14 days
Marriage Place	In the Merivale Church
Folio	80/2006
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Flavell, Church of England

332

30 August 1880

Harry Forwood
Susannah Jane Foote

Harry Forwood
Susannah Jane Foote
💍 1880/2360

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
17

Merivale
Merivale

1 year
4 years

In the Merivale Church

80/2007

Elizabeth Foote, Mothers Consent duly attested

30 August 1880

Rev. T. Flavell Church of England

No	332
Date of Notice	30 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Forwood	Susannah Jane Foote
	💍 1880/2360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	17
Dwelling Place	Merivale	Merivale
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Merivale Church
Folio	80/2007
Consent	Elizabeth Foote, Mothers Consent duly attested
Date of Certificate	30 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Flavell Church of England

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).