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 718

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 September 1880 Registrar William Henry Eyes Jnr.

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

388

12 July 1880

David John Kenny
Catherine Ellen Daldry

David John Kenny
Catherine Ellen Daldry
💍 1880/2387

Widower
Widow

Warder H.M. Gaol

40
30

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 1/2 yrs
6 mos

The Roman Catholic Chapel Lyttelton

80/2049

12 July 1880

Rev John Donovan Roman Catholic

No	388
Date of Notice	12 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David John Kenny	Catherine Ellen Daldry
	💍 1880/2387
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Warder H.M. Gaol
Age	40	30
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 1/2 yrs	6 mos
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Chapel Lyttelton
Folio	80/2049
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev John Donovan Roman Catholic

389

21 July 1880

Francis Kelcher
Torea Wera

Francis Kelcher
Toria Wera
💍 1880/2403

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

28
32

Raupaki
Raupaki

1 year
4 years

Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton

80/2051

21 July 1880

Rev John Townsend, Church of England

No	389
Date of Notice	21 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Kelcher	Torea Wera
BDM Match (95%)	Francis Kelcher	Toria Wera
	💍 1880/2403
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Raupaki	Raupaki
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton
Folio	80/2051
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev John Townsend, Church of England

390

22 July 1880

Hoani Maka
Miri Honoroma

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
18

Raupaki
Raupaki

2 years
18 yrs

The Wesleyan Chapel Lyttelton

Ripeka Horomona Mother

22 July 1880

Rev Te Kote, Wesleyan

No	390
Date of Notice	22 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hoani Maka	Miri Honoroma
BDM Match (9%)
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Raupaki	Raupaki
Length of Residence	2 years	18 yrs
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Chapel Lyttelton
Folio
Consent	Ripeka Horomona Mother
Date of Certificate	22 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev Te Kote, Wesleyan

391

4 August 1880

Thomas Harkess
Sibylla Gardener

Thomas Harkess
Sibylla Gardener
💍 1880/2398

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
20

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

20 years
20 years

The House of John James Gardener, St David Street, Lyttelton

80/2050

John James Gardener Father

4 August 1880

Rev W.B. Beck Wesleyan

No	391
Date of Notice	4 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Harkess	Sibylla Gardener
	💍 1880/2398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The House of John James Gardener, St David Street, Lyttelton
Folio	80/2050
Consent	John James Gardener Father
Date of Certificate	4 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev W.B. Beck Wesleyan

392

16 August 1880

William Henry Ealam
Margaret Emo

William Thomas Ealam
Margaret Emo
💍 1880/2404

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

24
23

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

12 mos
12 mos

The Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton

80/2052

16 August 1880

Rev John Townsend, Church of England

No	392
Date of Notice	16 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Ealam	Margaret Emo
BDM Match (85%)	William Thomas Ealam	Margaret Emo
	💍 1880/2404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	12 mos	12 mos
Marriage Place	The Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton
Folio	80/2052
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev John Townsend, Church of England

393

13 September 1880

John William Leigh
Mary Ann Witnell

John William Leigh
Mary Ann Witnell
💍 1880/2425

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman

33
23

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
3 days

The House of Alex Fletcher, Dampiers Bay, Lyttelton

80/2047

13 September 1880

Rev Jas Hill Presbyterian

No	393
Date of Notice	13 September 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Leigh	Mary Ann Witnell
	💍 1880/2425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The House of Alex Fletcher, Dampiers Bay, Lyttelton
Folio	80/2047
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev Jas Hill 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).