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 487

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
2235	11 August 1870	George Ashworth Minnie Jane Hind	George Ashbolt Minnie Jane Hinde 💍 1870/7206	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser Servant	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 1 year	St. Luke's Church		11 August 1870	Rev. C. A. Lingard
2236	11 August 1870	William Arau Robertson Elizabeth Ann Bradwell	William Struan Robertson Elizabeth Ann Braddell 💍 1870/7587	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	35 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 1 year	In the house		11 August 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2237	15 August 1870	Thomas Hoddart Jane Ramsey	Thomas Stoddart Jane Ramsay 💍 1870/7590 Thomas Andrew Jane Farmer 💍 1870/9141 Thomas Thompson Jane Mahoney 💍 1870/6939	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor/Farmer Servant	30 22	Leeston Christchurch	5 years 6 weeks	In the house		15 August 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2238	16 August 1870	James Grindrod Ann Gordon Wilson	Samuel Grindred Anne Gordon Wilson 💍 1870/7596	Bachelor Spinster	Servant Servant	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	In the house		16 August 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2239	18 August 1870	George Law Charlotte Hicks	George Lamb Charlotte Hicks 💍 1870/7593	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Servant	55 36	[UNCLEAR] Christchurch	5 weeks 5 weeks	In the house of Mr. Simpson, Papanui Road		18 August 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2240	19 August 1870	James Prebble Isabella Walker	James Prebble Isabella Walker 💍 1870/7710	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 20	Prebbleton Spreydon	2 years 7 years	Church, Riccarton	John Walker, father	19 August 1870	Rev. C. Bowen
2241	20 August 1870	Henry Kimber Eliza Days	Henry Kimber Eliza Day 💍 1870/7605	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Halswell Spreydon	8 years 5 years	In the house of William Streeter, Halswell		20 August 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2242	22 August 1870	George Mark Seales Mary Jane Edwards	George Mark Scales Mary Jane Edwards 💍 1870/7599 John Emanuel Mary Jane Edwards 💍 1870/6657	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	35 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 4 months	In the house		22 August 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2243	25 August 1870	John Charles Margaret Fox	John Charles Margaret Foy 💍 1870/7380	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	8 days 3 months	Roman Catholic Chapel		25 August 1870	Rev. Father Chevrier
2244	31 August 1870	Walter James Oliver Margaret Jane Brown	Walter James Olliver Margaret Jane Mark 💍 1870/7842	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Servant	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	In the Church		31 August 1870	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2245	3 September 1870	Frederick Hobden Louisa Scott	Frederick Hobden Louisa Scott 💍 1870/7284	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor Dressmaker	31 33	Addington Durham Street	2 weeks 2 weeks	In the Wesleyan Chapel		3 September 1870	Rev. J. Buddle

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).