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 481

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 June 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
2174	25 April 1870	James McGuiness Elizabeth Kennedy	James McGuiness Elizabeth Kennedy 💍 1870/7344	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 9 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch		25 April 1870	Revd. Father Chervier
2175	25 April 1870	Martin O'Donoghue Ann Steadfast Iles	Martin O'Donoghue Ann Steadfast Iles 💍 1870/7362	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	21 17	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 11 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch	Eliza Ann Iles, Mother	25 April 1870	Revd. Father Chervier
2176	27 April 1870	Henry Philip Hill Nora Alice Scott	Henry Philip Hill Nora Alice Scott 💍 1870/7803	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	25 25	Malvern Hills Christchurch	7 years 2 years	In the Church of St. Michael, Christchurch		27 April 1870	The Very Revd. Dean Jacobs
2177	27 April 1870	David McBeth Eliza Margaret Burns	David McBeth Eliza Margaret Burns 💍 1870/7347	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch		27 April 1870	Revd. Father Chervier
2178	28 April 1870	George Swan Grace Stevens	George Swain Grace Stevens 💍 1870/7437	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 25	Springston Springston	8 years 1 week	In the Scotch Church, Prebbleton		13 May 1870	Revd. J. Campbell
2179	29 April 1870	Joseph Brown Mary Duffy	Joseph Brown Mary Brown 💍 1870/7281	Widower Widow	Labourer Servant	36 39	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 5 years	In the House of Revd. W. Kirk, Christchurch		29 April 1870	Revd. W. Kirk
2180	30 April 1870	John Timms Eleanor Anderson	John Timms Eleanor Anderson 💍 1870/7539	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer Servant	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 5 years	In the Scotch Church, Tuam Street		30 April 1870	Revd. C. Fraser
2181	2 May 1870	Randolph George Harper Amy Woodward	Randolph George Harper Amy Woodward 💍 1870/7239	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 6 months	In the Church of St. John, Christchurch		2 May 1870	Revd. O Bryen Hoare
2182	4 May 1870	Alfred Arthur Lister Inglis Sarah Ann Sturt	Alfred Arthur Lister Inglis Sarah Ann Sturt 💍 1870/7449	Bachelor Spinster	Actor	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 5 years	In the Opawa Church		4 May 1870	Revd. G. Cholmondeley
2183	5 May 1870	Michael Malley Margaret Digan	Michael Malley Margaret Deigan 💍 1870/7353	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle dealer Servant	33 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Days 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch		5 May 1870	Revd. Father Chervier
2184	10 May 1870	Thomas Preston Catherine Dawe	Thomas Preston Catherine Daw 💍 1870/7806	Bachelor Spinster	Livery Stable Keeper Servant	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 2 years	In the Church of St. Michael, Christchurch		10 May 1870	Very Revd. Dean Jacobs

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).