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 475

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
2127	1 March 1870	Thomas Kinter Adeliza Hants	Thomas Hunter Adeliza Dants 💍 1870/7497	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	29 36	Christchurch Do	3 weeks 6 months	In the House		March 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2128	2 March 1870	Frederick William Jones Rib Fraser	Frederick William Jones Harriet Ann Winter 💍 1870/7779	Bachelor	Barman	32	Christchurch	3 years	In the Church		March 1870	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2129	2 March 1870	Rainford Bavin Emma Buddle	Rainsford Baron Emma Buddle 💍 1870/7278	Bachelor Spinster	Minister of the Gospel	24 24	Christchurch Do	3 Days 4 years	In the Wesleyan Chapel		March 1870	Rev. T. Buddle
2130	4 March 1870	David Sanders Catherine McGuine	David Saunders Catherine McGuire 💍 1870/7323	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	38 24	Christchurch Do	3 Days 3 Days	In the Roman Catholic Chapel		March 1870	The Father Chataigner
2131	5 March 1870	Thomas Moore Eleanor Glassey	Thomas Moore Eleanor Glassey 💍 1870/7431	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	26 23	Papanui Papanui Road	7 years 2 years	In the Presbyterian Church		March 1870	Rev. J. Campbell
2132	5 March 1870	Natale Learnate Jane Barral		Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Servant	24 21	Christchurch Addington	1 year 3 weeks	In the House		March 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2133	8 March 1870	Joseph Birnate Mary Warner	Joseph Birkett Mary Werner 💍 1870/7500	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	33 22	Christchurch Do	6 mths 5 years	In the House		March 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2134	9 March 1870	Alexander Laing Margaret Couvel	Alexander Laing Margaret McConnel 💍 1870/7503	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 24	Christchurch Do	8 years 4 years	In the House		March 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2135	10 March 1870	George Edward Chesivale Jane Fellow	George Edward Press Jane Ellison 💍 1870/6024	Bachelor Spinster	Fruiterer	20 21	Christchurch Do	5 years 14 years	In the Avonside Church		March 1870	Rev. M. Martin
2136	12 March 1870	John Hilling Jane Bowman	John Hilling Jane Bowman 💍 1870/3893	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	24 18	Malvern Hills Do	2 years 10 years	In the Church of St. Luke	Gaith Bowman, mother	March 1870	Rev. E. A. Luigard
2137	14 March 1870	James Mitchell Catherine Collette	James Mitchell Catherine Collett 💍 1870/7227	Widower Spinster	Saddler Servant	50 32	St. Albans Do	2 mths 2 mths	In the Church of St. John		March 1870	Rev. C. 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 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).