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 853

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1880 Registrar A R 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

16 February 1880

Jonathan Joseph Goodall
Emily Ann Golconda Brinn

Jonathan Joseph Goodall
Emily Ann Goleonda Brinn
💍 1880/1785

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

21 years
19 years

Caversham
Caversham

21 years
19 years

In the house of Revd Dr Stuart, Dunedin

80/518

John Brinn Guardian of Minor

16 February 1880

Revd Dr Stuart

No	52
Date of Notice	16 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Joseph Goodall	Emily Ann Golconda Brinn
BDM Match (98%)	Jonathan Joseph Goodall	Emily Ann Goleonda Brinn
	💍 1880/1785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	21 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd Dr Stuart, Dunedin
Folio	80/518
Consent	John Brinn Guardian of Minor
Date of Certificate	16 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

18 February 1880

William Love Bain
Annie Lyall

William Love Bain
Annie Lyall
💍 1880/1104

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Housemaid

26 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 months
1 year

In the house of Mrs Marion Bain Great King Street, Dunedin

80/495

no person in the Colony to give consent to minor

18 February 1880

Revd J Upton Davis

No	53
Date of Notice	18 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Love Bain	Annie Lyall
	💍 1880/1104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Housemaid
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Marion Bain Great King Street, Dunedin
Folio	80/495
Consent	no person in the Colony to give consent to minor
Date of Certificate	18 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd J Upton Davis

19 February 1880

Edward McGlashan
Henrietta Bell

Edward MacGlashan
Henrietta Bell
💍 1880/1791

Widower
Spinster

Settler

62 years
37 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 months
16 years

In the house of George Bell Queen Street, Dunedin

80/524

19 February 1880

Revd Dr Stuart

No	54
Date of Notice	19 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward McGlashan	Henrietta Bell
BDM Match (97%)	Edward MacGlashan	Henrietta Bell
	💍 1880/1791
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	62 years	37 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of George Bell Queen Street, Dunedin
Folio	80/524
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

19 February 1880

Richard Maddox
Harriet Elizabeth Giles

Richard Maddox
Harriett Elizabeth Giles
💍 1880/1671

Widower
Spinster

Storeman
Tailoress

37 years
22 years

Caversham
Caversham

4 years
5 years

St Matthews Church, Dunedin

80/726

19 February 1880

Rev J C Byng

No	55
Date of Notice	19 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Maddox	Harriet Elizabeth Giles
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Maddox	Harriett Elizabeth Giles
	💍 1880/1671
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Tailoress
Age	37 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Dunedin
Folio	80/726
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev J C Byng

19 February 1880

Peter Sutherland
Annie Thomson

Peter Sutherland
Annie Thomson
💍 1880/1101

Widower
Widow

Shipwright

43 years
28 years

Port Chalmers
South Dunedin

13 years
8 years

In the First Church, Dunedin

80/492

19 February 1880

Revd Lindsay Mackie

No	56
Date of Notice	19 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Sutherland	Annie Thomson
	💍 1880/1101
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Shipwright
Age	43 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	80/492
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd Lindsay Mackie

20 February 1880

Robert James Sparks
Martha Johnston

Robert James Sparks
Martha Johnston
💍 1880/1102

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Servant

29 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
4 days

In the house of William Latham Moray Place Dunedin

80/493

no person in the Colony to give consent to minor

20 February 1880

Revd Lindsay Mackie

No	57
Date of Notice	20 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Sparks	Martha Johnston
	💍 1880/1102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Servant
Age	29 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	In the house of William Latham Moray Place Dunedin
Folio	80/493
Consent	no person in the Colony to give consent to minor
Date of Certificate	20 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd Lindsay Mackie

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).