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 889

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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

246

27 July 1880

William Johnston
Sarah Ann Cranston

William Johnston
Sarah Ann Cranston
💍 1880/2120

Bachelor
Spinster

Expressman

30 years
25 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

5 years
5 weeks

In the house of Revd. A.G. Boyd Musselburgh

80/1800

27 July 1880

Revd. A.G. Boyd Presbyterian Minister

No	246
Date of Notice	27 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Johnston	Sarah Ann Cranston
	💍 1880/2120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Expressman
Age	30 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd. A.G. Boyd Musselburgh
Folio	80/1800
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd. A.G. Boyd Presbyterian Minister

247

27 July 1880

Terence Rodgers
Hannah O'Shea

Terence Rogers
Hannah O'Shea
💍 1880/2101

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
8 weeks

In St. Josephs Chapel Dunedin

80/1789

27 July 1880

Revd. W. Newport Roman Catholic Priest

No	247
Date of Notice	27 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Terence Rodgers	Hannah O'Shea
BDM Match (97%)	Terence Rogers	Hannah O'Shea
	💍 1880/2101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	8 weeks
Marriage Place	In St. Josephs Chapel Dunedin
Folio	80/1789
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd. W. Newport Roman Catholic Priest

248

27 July 1880

John Thompson
Kathleen Clinton

John Thompson
Kathleen Clinton
💍 1880/2648

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

43 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
3 days

In St. Pauls Church Dunedin

80/2197

27 July 1880

Revd. E.G. Edwards Church of England Minister

No	248
Date of Notice	27 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thompson	Kathleen Clinton
	💍 1880/2648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	43 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Pauls Church Dunedin
Folio	80/2197
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd. E.G. Edwards Church of England Minister

249

28 July 1880

Alexander Edward Farquhar
Flora Thomson

Alexander Edward Farquhar
Flora Thomson
💍 1880/2850

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

45 years
25 years

Ravensbourne
Ravensbourne

3 1/2 years
1 year

In the house of David Thomson Ravensbourne

80/2169

28 July 1880

Revd. J. Niven Presbyterian Minister

No	249
Date of Notice	28 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Edward Farquhar	Flora Thomson
	💍 1880/2850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	45 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Ravensbourne	Ravensbourne
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of David Thomson Ravensbourne
Folio	80/2169
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. Niven Presbyterian Minister

250

29 July 1880

Malcolm Morrison
Sarah Ann Pennell

Malcolm Morrison
Sarah Ann Pennell
💍 1880/2858

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In Knox Church Dunedin

80/2154

James Charles Pennell father of Minor

29 July 1880

Revd. Dr. Stuart Presbyterian Minister

No	250
Date of Notice	29 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Morrison	Sarah Ann Pennell
	💍 1880/2858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	80/2154
Consent	James Charles Pennell father of Minor
Date of Certificate	29 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd. Dr. Stuart Presbyterian Minister

251

30 July 1880

George Moore Sinclair
Arabella Champion

George Moore Sinclair
Arabella Champion
💍 1880/2121

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman
Mantle Maker

27 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 1/2 years
6 years

In the house of the Revd. Dr. Copland Dunedin

80/1809

30 July 1880

Revd. Dr. Copland Presbyterian Minister

No	251
Date of Notice	30 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Moore Sinclair	Arabella Champion
	💍 1880/2121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman	Mantle Maker
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd. Dr. Copland Dunedin
Folio	80/1809
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1880
Officiating Minister	Revd. Dr. Copland Presbyterian Minister

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).