Intentions to Marry, 1890

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840402, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 996

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 September 1880

No	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
513	5 July 1880	John Quested Eliza Jane Woods	John Quested Eliza Jane Woods 💍 1890/2462	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Servant	31 25	Westport Westport	2 weeks 1 week	Church of England	90/2372		5 July 1880	James E. Bullen
514	8 July 1880	James Ward Priscilla Higgins	James Ward Priscilla Higgins 💍 1890/2522	Widower Widow	Miner	43 36	Denniston Denniston	4 months at residence of Mr. 2 months James Ward Denniston		90/2361		8 July 1880	William Laycock
515	10 July 1880	John Coffey Smith Ellen Finnow	John Coppersmith Ellen Fraser 💍 1890/2523	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	22 19		5 years at residence of Mr. 7 years Walter Fraser Denniston		90/2362	Walter Fraser, Father	10 July 1880	William Laycock
516	11 July 1880	Martin Stack Georgina Bregan	Martin Stack Georgina Cregan 💍 1890/2526	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	21 22	Cape Foulwind Westport	3 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church	90/2365		11 July 1880	Thomas Walshe
517	21 July 1880	William Little Elizabeth Isaacson	William Little Elizabeth Isaacson 💍 1890/2454	Bachelor Widow	Miner	33 27	Ngakawau Ngakawau	2 months 3 months	Registrars Office	90/2369		21 July 1880	Robert Lair, Registrar
518	24 July 1880	John Muir Christina Corm	John Muir Christina Brown 💍 1890/2524	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Housemaid	25 19	Denniston Denniston	5 years at residence of Mr. 5 years John Corm Denniston		90/2363	John Corm, Father	24 July 1880	William Laycock
519	26 July 1880	William Estenham Ellen Louisa May	William Tottenham Ellen Luisa May 💍 1890/3387	Bachelor Spinster	Carter General Servant	28 21	Westport Westport	23 years at residence of Mr. 2 years Dr. Lunn Westport		90/2366		26 July 1880	Thomas Walshe
520	30 July 1880	Hugh Moran Bridget Malloy	Hugh Moran Bridget Molloy 💍 1890/3388	Widower Spinster	Miner General Servant	44 29	Addisons Addisons	23 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Church Addisons	90/2367		30 July 1880	Thomas Walshe
521	5 August 1880	Patrick Connell Alice Power	Patrick Connell Alice Power 💍 1890/2443	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer General Servant	27 25	Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind	2 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church Westport	90/2368		5 August 1880	Thomas Walshe
522	5 August 1880	Alexander Petrie Buick Mary Elizabeth Erman	Alexander Petrie Buick Mary Elizabeth Gorman 💍 1890/2463	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker Dressmaker	29 23	Westport Westport	5 years 18 months	Church of England	90/2373		5 August 1880	James E. Bullen
523	6 August 1880	Edward Robert Scott Blewett Jessie Jo Ann Ireland	Edward Robert Scott Blaxall Jessie Jo Ann McLeod 💍 1890/2464	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 25		17 years 11 years	Church of England	90/2374		6 August 1880	James E. Bullen
524	9 August 1880	James Baird Peacock Mary Hendry	James Baird Peacock Mary Hendry 💍 1890/2525	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	25 18	Denniston Denniston	4 years at residence of Mr. 8 years James Hendry Denniston		90/2364	James Hendry, Father	9 August 1880	William Laycock
525	21 August 1880	Andrew Aston Margaret McKay	Andrew Aston Margaret McKay 💍 1890/2460	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	21 21	Westport Westport	6 months at residence of Mr. 3 days James Wright Westport		90/2370		21 August 1880	James Wright
526	11 September 1880	Leonard Seymour Rimby Lydia Ronan		Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Housemaid	23 24		16 years at residence of Mr. 1 year James Wright Westport		90/2371		11 September 1880	James Wright

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).