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 852

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1880 Registrar Archibald Reid Ure

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

12 February 1880

Alexander Carnie
Hannah Barriball

Alexander Carnie
Hannah Barriball
💍 1880/1099

Bachelor
Widow

Grocers Assistant

30
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 1/2 years
3 years

In the office of the Registrar of marriages, Dunedin

80/482

12 February 1880

A. R. Ure Registrar of marriages

No	47
Date of Notice	12 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Carnie	Hannah Barriball
	💍 1880/1099
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Grocers Assistant
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of marriages, Dunedin
Folio	80/482
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1880
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure Registrar of marriages

12 February 1880

James McIntosh Stevenson
Selina Grace Ruston

James McIntosh Stevenson
Selina Grace Ruston
💍 1880/1110

Bachelor
Spinster

Store Keeper

33
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 months
18 years

In the office of the Registrar of marriages, Dunedin

80/483

James Ruston father of Minor

12 February 1880

A. R. Ure Registrar of marriages

No	48
Date of Notice	12 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McIntosh Stevenson	Selina Grace Ruston
	💍 1880/1110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store Keeper
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	18 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of marriages, Dunedin
Folio	80/483
Consent	James Ruston father of Minor
Date of Certificate	12 February 1880
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure Registrar of marriages

13 February 1880

Andrew Kinnimont
Helen Potter

Andrew Kinnimont
Helen Potter
💍 1880/1805

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

21
18

Pine Hill
North East Valley

16 years
18 years

In the house of Henry Potter, North East Valley

80/514

Henry Potter father of Minor

13 February 1880

Revd Dr Stuart

No	49
Date of Notice	13 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Kinnimont	Helen Potter
	💍 1880/1805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Pine Hill	North East Valley
Length of Residence	16 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Henry Potter, North East Valley
Folio	80/514
Consent	Henry Potter father of Minor
Date of Certificate	13 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

13 February 1880

Percy Edward Challis
Emily Grover

Percy Edward Challis
Emily Grover
💍 1880/1116

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Servant

24
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 days
8 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

80/484

13 February 1880

A R Ure Registrar of marriages

No	50
Date of Notice	13 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Edward Challis	Emily Grover
	💍 1880/1116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Servant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 days	8 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	80/484
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1880
Officiating Minister	A R Ure Registrar of marriages

13 February 1880

Oliver Beer
Helen Vincent Agnes McCullagh

Oliver Beer
Helen Vincent Agnes McCullagh
💍 1880/1783

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

26
21

Mornington
Dunedin

6 months
18 months

In Knox Church, Dunedin

80/516

13 February 1880

Revd Dr Stuart

No	51
Date of Notice	13 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Beer	Helen Vincent Agnes McCullagh
	💍 1880/1783
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 months	18 months
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	80/516
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

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).