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 766

District of Timaru Quarter ending Jan - Mar

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

199

18 February 1880

William Sprou
Jane Elizabeth Wood

William John Stephen Oatley
Jane Elizabeth Wood
💍 1880/858

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

22
18

Timaru
Timaru

4 yrs.
12 mths.

Dwelling house of Mrs. Wood, Timaru

80/344

William Wood (Father)

18 February 1880

Rev. B.T. Hallowes

No	199
Date of Notice	18 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sprou	Jane Elizabeth Wood
BDM Match (69%)	William John Stephen Oatley	Jane Elizabeth Wood
	💍 1880/858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 yrs.	12 mths.
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mrs. Wood, Timaru
Folio	80/344
Consent	William Wood (Father)
Date of Certificate	18 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. B.T. Hallowes

200

28 February 1880

William Henry Osborne
Mary Ann Harrilton

William Henry Osborne
Margaret Hamilton Carling
💍 1880/859

Bachelor
Widow

Gardener

30
37

Timaru
Timaru

6 yrs.
14 mths.

Dwelling house of George Harrilton, Timaru

80/345

28 February 1880

Rev. B.T. Hallowes

No	200
Date of Notice	28 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Osborne	Mary Ann Harrilton
BDM Match (70%)	William Henry Osborne	Margaret Hamilton Carling
	💍 1880/859
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Gardener
Age	30	37
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 yrs.	14 mths.
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of George Harrilton, Timaru
Folio	80/345
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. B.T. Hallowes

201

1 March 1880

Michael Kennedy
Ellen Rice

Michael Kennedy
Ellen Rice
💍 1880/853

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
22

Totara Valley
Totara Valley

4 mths.
4 mths.

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

80/331

1 March 1880

Rev. J.A. Grenier

No	201
Date of Notice	1 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Kennedy	Ellen Rice
	💍 1880/853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Totara Valley	Totara Valley
Length of Residence	4 mths.	4 mths.
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	80/331
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.A. Grenier

202

1 March 1880

Henry Septimus Wharton
Ann Longley

Henry S Harrodd
Annah Longley
💍 1880/1024

Widower
Widow

Butcher

38
30

Timaru
Timaru

5 yrs.
5 yrs.

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

80/313

1 March 1880

Rev. B. Maguire

No	202
Date of Notice	1 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Septimus Wharton	Ann Longley
BDM Match (65%)	Henry S Harrodd	Annah Longley
	💍 1880/1024
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Butcher
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 yrs.	5 yrs.
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	80/313
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Maguire

203

4 March 1880

Thomas Adam Lyons
Mary Ann Spence

Thomas Adian Lyons
Mary McIver
💍 1880/862

Bachelor
Spinster

Overseer Sheep Station

26
24

Mackenzie Country
Timaru

3 days
14 days.

Dwelling house of Alexander Spence, Timaru

80/349 & 348

4 March 1880

Rev. W. S. Turncoats

No	203
Date of Notice	4 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Adam Lyons	Mary Ann Spence
BDM Match (64%)	Thomas Adian Lyons	Mary McIver
	💍 1880/862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Overseer Sheep Station
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Mackenzie Country	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days.
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Alexander Spence, Timaru
Folio	80/349 & 348
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Turncoats

204

10 March 1880

Thomas Hewan Archibald
Charlotte Clark

Thomas Hewan Archdall
Charlotte Clarke
💍 1880/905

Bachelor
Spinster

Produce Dealer

31
29

Timaru
Timaru

12 mths
21 days.

St. Mary's School Church, Timaru

80/419

10 March 1880

Rev. H.O. Forster

No	204
Date of Notice	10 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hewan Archibald	Charlotte Clark
BDM Match (90%)	Thomas Hewan Archdall	Charlotte Clarke
	💍 1880/905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Produce Dealer
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	12 mths	21 days.
Marriage Place	St. Mary's School Church, Timaru
Folio	80/419
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.O. Forster

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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).