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 740

District of Ashburton Quarter ending Apr - Jun

No	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
157	6 April 1880	Henry George Williamson Hermine Ernstine Wilhemina Strien	Henry Cape Williamson Hermine Ernesttine Wilhelmina Strien 💍 1880/1634	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	30 24	cambridge Ashburton	3 months 11 months	residence of Lawrence Strien, Ashburton	80/1213		6 April 1880	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
158	12 April 1880	John Thompson Laura Alberta Martin	John Thompson Laura Alberta Martin 💍 1880/1652	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	22 18	Kyle Kyle	18 months 3 years	Registrar's Office	88/5	William Martin, Father	16 April 1880	J. Ward, Registrar
159	19 April 1880	Thomas Bolger Ellen Mary Ryan	Thomas Bolger Ellen Mary Ryan 💍 1880/1599	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	34 25	Ashburton Forks Chertsey	5 years 5 years	Catholic Chapel, Ashburton	80/1209		19 April 1880	Revd. J. G. Cherrier, Roman Catholic
160	19 April 1880	Henry Constable Segers Louisa Margaret Julley	Henry Constable Segers Louisa Margaret Tulley 💍 1880/1606	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 20	Ashburton Middleton, Christchurch	9 weeks 20 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	88/143	Charles Julley, Father	20 April 1880	Revd. Frances Knowles, Church of England
161	13 May 1880	Joseph Hazell Janet Harrison	Joseph Hazell Janet Harrison 💍 1880/1653	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	25 22	South Rakaia South Rakaia	12 years 2 years	Registrar's Office	80/1216		13 May 1880	J. Ward, Registrar
162	15 May 1880	Alexander Kidd Janet Duncan	Alexander Kidd Janet Duncan 💍 1880/1645	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	33 33	Longbeach Longbeach	4 years 3 1/2 years	Private dwelling house of Norman Thompson, Longbeach	80/1214		15 May 1880	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
163	31 May 1880	Edmond Hannon Anne Banner	Edmond Hannon Annie Bannor 💍 1880/1600	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Domestic Servant	23 21	Longbeach Ashburton	6 months 4 months	Roman Catholic Church	80/1210		31 May 1880	Revd. J. G. Cherrier, Roman Catholic
164	18 June 1880	Neil Duff Cordelia Stephens	Neil Duff Cordelia Stephens 💍 1880/1602	Bachelor Spinster	Livery Stable Keeper	26 20	Ashburton Ashburton	5 months 5 months	Private dwelling house of John Stephens, Ashburton	80/1212	John Stevens, Father	18 June 1880	Revd. William Kiall, Wesleyan Methodist

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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

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).