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 764

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1880 Registrar C E Cooper

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

187

1 January 1880

John Prior Puttick
Rachael Orpen

John Prior Puttick
Rachel Orpen
💍 1880/903

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman

24
23

Timaru
Timaru

12 mths
6 mths

St. Mary's School Church Timaru

80/417

1 January 1880

Ven. H W Harper

No	187
Date of Notice	1 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Prior Puttick	Rachael Orpen
BDM Match (96%)	John Prior Puttick	Rachel Orpen
	💍 1880/903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	12 mths	6 mths
Marriage Place	St. Mary's School Church Timaru
Folio	80/417
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Ven. H W Harper

188

3 January 1880

James Connor
Ellen Brosnahan

James Connor
Ellen Brosnahan
💍 1880/872

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
24

Timaru
Timaru

2 yrs.
6 mos

Roman Catholic Church Timaru

80/334

3 January 1880

Rev. J B Chataigner

No	188
Date of Notice	3 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Connor	Ellen Brosnahan
	💍 1880/872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 yrs.	6 mos
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	80/334
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J B Chataigner

189

8 January 1880

Robert Proctor
Jane Ellis

Robert Proctor
Jane Ellis
💍 1880/904

Bachhelor
Spinster

Carpenter

41
38

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
2 yeas

St. Mary's School Church Timaru

80/418

8 January 1880

Ven. H. W. Harper

No	189
Date of Notice	8 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Proctor	Jane Ellis
	💍 1880/904
Condition	Bachhelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	41	38
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	2 yeas
Marriage Place	St. Mary's School Church Timaru
Folio	80/418
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Ven. H. W. Harper

190

10 January 1880

Francis Thomas Haskins
Elizabeth Macpherson

Francis Thomas Haskins
Elizabeth Macpherson
💍 1880/978

Widower
Widow

Town Clerk, Christchurch

48
30

Christchurch
Coonoor

14 days.
14 days

St. Mary's School Church Timaru

10 January 1880

Ven. H W Harper

No	190
Date of Notice	10 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Thomas Haskins	Elizabeth Macpherson
	💍 1880/978
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Town Clerk, Christchurch
Age	48	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Coonoor
Length of Residence	14 days.	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's School Church Timaru
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Ven. H W Harper

191

21 January 1880

David Bradley
Elizabeth Ann Blackmore

David Bradley
Elizabeth Ann Blackmore
💍 1880/861

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
19

Timaru
Timaru

7 mths
6 yrs.

Dwelling House of Mrs. Peacock Latter Street Timaru

80/347

Charles Blackmore, Father

4 February 1880

Rev. J H Simmonds

No	191
Date of Notice	21 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Bradley	Elizabeth Ann Blackmore
	💍 1880/861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 mths	6 yrs.
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of Mrs. Peacock Latter Street Timaru
Folio	80/347
Consent	Charles Blackmore, Father
Date of Certificate	4 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J H Simmonds

192

23 January 1880

John Melford
Margaret Amelia Campbell

John Melton
Margaret Amelia Campbell
💍 1880/856

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
23

Timaru
Timaru

20 yrs.
2 1/2 yrs.

Dwelling House of W. H. Manning, LeCren St. Timaru.

80/342

23 January 1880

Rev. B T Hallowes

No	192
Date of Notice	23 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Melford	Margaret Amelia Campbell
BDM Match (88%)	John Melton	Margaret Amelia Campbell
	💍 1880/856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	20 yrs.	2 1/2 yrs.
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of W. H. Manning, LeCren St. Timaru.
Folio	80/342
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. B T Hallowes

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).