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 495

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
2307	14 November 1870	John Celsen Elizabeth Berry	John Olsen Elizabeth Berry 💍 1870/7731	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Servant	35 25	Springston Christchurch	3 years Near 1 year	In the House of Mr. Ward		14 November 1870	Rev. J. Alliner
2308	14 November 1870	James M. Dorbale Mary Ann Whiteside	James McDowall Mary Ann Whiteside 💍 1870/7653	Bachelor	Servant Servant	28 26	Thrington Watthaw	2 Months 1 week	In the House		15 November 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2309	18 November 1870	James Schrader Emily Susan Paddy	James Schrader Emily Susan Paddy 💍 1870/3930	Widower Spinster	Clerk	30 18	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 1 week	In the House of Rev. C Fraser	William Paddy, Father	18 November 1870	Rev. C Fraser
2310	21 November 1870	James Lunney Ann Hope	James Linney Ann Hope 💍 1870/7656	Widower Spinster	Butcher Laundress	38 25	Mile Road Do	6 weeks 2 weeks	In the House of Rev. C Fraser		21 November 1870	Rev. C Fraser
2311	24 November 1870	William Smithson Elizabeth Heale	William Smithson Elizabeth Steele 💍 1870/7455	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 21	Christchurch Do	2 years 2 weeks	In the Cepawa Church		24 November 1870	Rev. G Cholmondeley
2312	25 November 1870	Samuel Sact Rosa Flint	Samuel Salt Rosa Flint 💍 1870/7746	Bachelor Spinster	Ferryman Servant	28 26	Christchurch Do	3 Days 6 Months	In the Registrars Office		25 November 1870	Markerson
2313	26 November 1870	David Downey Elizabeth Counce	David Downey Elizabeth Connell 💍 1870/7857	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	39 40	Christchurch Do	1 month 1 month	In the Church of St. Michael		26 November 1870	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2314	28 November 1870	John Alfred Ernest P-Quantic Mary Ann Pummerson	John Alfred Ernest St Quentin Mary Ann Emerson 💍 1870/7665	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	22 20	Christchurch St. Albans	6 years 12 years	In the House of Mr. Pummerson	John Pummerson, Father	28 November 1870	Rev. C Laser
2314	3 December 1870	Benjamin Vickery Mary Ann George	Benjamin Vickery Mary Anne George 💍 1870/7722	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	25 21	Selwyn Christchurch	1 year 3 months	In the Riccarton Church		3 December 1870	Rev. C. Bowen
2315	28 November 1870	George Septimus Philips Mary Hitch	George Septimus Phillips Mary Ffitch 💍 1870/7884	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	26 20	Rockwood Selwyn	15 years 18 years	In Burnham Church	George Hitch, Father	28 November 1871	Rev. L Pember
2316	28 November 1870	William Lawrence Rose Barr	William Laurence Rose Barr 💍 1870/7419	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Servant	30 24	Christchurch Do	1 week 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Chapel		28 November 1870	Rev. Father Chervier

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).