Intentions to Marry, 1870

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840382, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, November 15 2024

Page 471

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1870

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
2087	3 January 1870	William Charles Ladbrook Emma Warren	William Charles Ladbrook Emma Warren 💍 1870/7458	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 22	Sempleton Prebbleton	2 years 1 year	In the House of Revd. C Fraser, Christchurch	3 January 1870	Revd. C. Fraser
2088	3 January 1870	Christopher Matthews Mary Ann Chapman	Christopher Matthews Mary Ann Chapman 💍 1870/7461	Widower Widow	Tailor	52 52	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 4 years	In the House of Mr Grisbrook, Kilmore Street	3 January 1870	Revd. C. Fraser
2089	3 January 1870	Thomas McEvidy Mary Jane Walls	Thomas McEvidy Mary Jane Walls 💍 1870/7317	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 21	Leeston Christchurch	3 years 3 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch	3 January 1870	Revd. Father Chataigner
2090	3 January 1870	Henry George Jordan Sarah Middleton	Henry George Jordan Sarah Middleton 💍 1870/7464	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 mths 2 years	In the House of Revd. C. Fraser, Christchurch	3 January 1870	Revd. C. Fraser
2091	4 January 1870	Alexander McNie Lizzie Raymond Culliford	Alexander McNie Lizzie Raymond Culliford 💍 1870/7752	Bachelor Spinster	Bookkeeper Governess	27 24	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 2 years	In the Church of St. Michael, Christchurch	4 January 1870	The Very Revd. Dean Jacobs
2092	4 January 1870	Thomas McKeown Margaret Ann Moore	Thomas McKeown Margaret Ann Moore 💍 1870/7683	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	25 21	Rangiora Christchurch	4 years 2 years	In the Avonside Church	4 January 1870	Revd. G. H. Martin
2093	7 January 1870	Charles Bush Matilda Elizabeth Coleman	Charles Bush Matilda Elizabeth Coleman 💍 1870/7860	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	25 22	Christchurch Leeston	3 months 5 months	In the House of Mr. White, High Street	7 January 1870	Revd. W. J. Habens
2094	7 January 1870	John Beherrall Christian Briar	John Beharrell Christian Briar 💍 1870/7686	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Governess	28 29	Kaiapoi Christchurch	1 year 6 mths	In the Avonside Church	21 January 1870	Revd. Martin
2095	11 January 1870	Frederick Christopher Musgrove Elizabeth Evans	Frederick Christopher Musgrove Elizabeth Evans 💍 1870/9429	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	29 28	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 3 years	In the Church of St. John, Christchurch	11 January 1870	Revd. O Bryen Hoare

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 1899. 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).