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 791

District of Oamaru 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

806

21 February 1880

John Jardine
Elizabeth Lee

John Gardine
Elizabeth Lee
💍 1880/881

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

25
20

Seaton
Oamaru

4 weeks
4 months

The Manse

7408

no person in Colony to give consent

23 February 1880

Rev. A. B. Todd

No	806
Date of Notice	21 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Jardine	Elizabeth Lee
BDM Match (96%)	John Gardine	Elizabeth Lee
	💍 1880/881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Seaton	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	The Manse
Folio	7408
Consent	no person in Colony to give consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd

807

8 March 1880

Alexander Allan Fleming
Emily Agnes Hustable

Alexander Allan Fleming
Emily Agnes Huxtable
💍 1880/1160

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon

Oamaru

10 years

The Reverend Mr Waddells Church Dunedin

Dunedin 80/551

8 March 1880

Revd. Rutherford Waddell

No	807
Date of Notice	8 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Allan Fleming	Emily Agnes Hustable
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Allan Fleming	Emily Agnes Huxtable
	💍 1880/1160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon
Age	40
Dwelling Place	Oamaru
Length of Residence	10 years
Marriage Place	The Reverend Mr Waddells Church Dunedin
Folio	Dunedin 80/551
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd. Rutherford Waddell

808

17 March 1880

William Burke
Rachel Norton

William Burke
Rachel Norton
💍 1880/901

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

27
20

Oamaru

6 years
2"

The Residence of William Burke Chelmer Street - Oamaru

80/405

19 March 1880

Rev. Henry Dewsbury

No	808
Date of Notice	17 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Burke	Rachel Norton
	💍 1880/901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 years	2"
Marriage Place	The Residence of William Burke Chelmer Street - Oamaru
Folio	80/405
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Dewsbury

809

25 March 1880

John Magill
Agnes Imrie Gulloch

John Magill
Agnes McCulloch
💍 1880/879

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
None

25
19

Oamaru
Oamaru

10 days
1 year

The office of the Registrar of marriages at Oamaru

80/406

no person in Colony to give consent The Registrar of marriages at Oamaru

25 March 1880

No	809
Date of Notice	25 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Magill	Agnes Imrie Gulloch
BDM Match (82%)	John Magill	Agnes McCulloch
	💍 1880/879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	None
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	10 days	1 year
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of marriages at Oamaru
Folio	80/406
Consent	no person in Colony to give consent The Registrar of marriages at Oamaru
Date of Certificate	25 March 1880
Officiating Minister

810

27 March 1880

Charles Richard Church
Miriam Lane

Charles Richard Church
Marian Jane
💍 1880/899

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

26
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

12 years

St Lukes Church Oamaru

80/462 Christchurch

E. G. Lane Father

29 March 1880

Revd. Algernon Gifford

No	810
Date of Notice	27 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Richard Church	Miriam Lane
BDM Match (86%)	Charles Richard Church	Marian Jane
	💍 1880/899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	12 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church Oamaru
Folio	80/462 Christchurch
Consent	E. G. Lane Father
Date of Certificate	29 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd. Algernon Gifford

811

29 March 1880

Joseph Tripp
Maria Hall

Joseph Tripp
Maria Hull
💍 1880/882

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

21
16

Oamaru
Oamaru

8 years
9 days

The residence of Rev. Henry Lomas in Lune Street. Oamaru

80/469

Sarah Lomas mother

29 March 1880

Rev. A. B. Todd

No	811
Date of Notice	29 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Tripp	Maria Hall
BDM Match (95%)	Joseph Tripp	Maria Hull
	💍 1880/882
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	8 years	9 days
Marriage Place	The residence of Rev. Henry Lomas in Lune Street. Oamaru
Folio	80/469
Consent	Sarah Lomas mother
Date of Certificate	29 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd

812

31 March 1880

Edmund Morgan Lanning
Agnes Gray

Edmund Morgan Lanning
Agnes Gray
💍 1880/1823

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

25
20

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 years
18 years

The Residence of Mr. John Gray in Hull Street. Oamaru

80/562

John Gray Father

31 March 1880

Revd. A. B. Todd

No	812
Date of Notice	31 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Morgan Lanning	Agnes Gray
	💍 1880/1823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. John Gray in Hull Street. Oamaru
Folio	80/562
Consent	John Gray Father
Date of Certificate	31 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd. A. B. Todd

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).