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 496

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
2318	3 December 1870	John Smith Julia Crump	John Smith Julia Crump 💍 1870/7668	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 18	Springston Do	5 months 5 years	Scotch Church	John Crump, father	3 December 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2319	5 December 1870	Alexander McKenzie Mary Ann Thompson	Alexander McKenzie Mary Ann Thompson 💍 1870/7671 Alexander Protheroe Mary Ellen Thompson 💍 1870/7137	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Servant	23 18	Christchurch Do	3 years 2 years	In the House	Barbara Scanlon, mother	5 December 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2320	9 December 1870	Edward Addams Ellen Lynch	Edward Adams Ellen Lynch 💍 1870/3951	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer Servant	27 21	Christchurch Do	2 weeks 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel		9 December 1870	Rev. Father Cherrier
2321	10 December 1870	John Godwin Catherine Willow	John Gowin Catherine Dillon 💍 1870/7422	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	26 24	Lincoln Road Do	2 years 6 months	In the Roman Catholic Chapel		10 December 1870	Rev. Father Cherrier
2322	12 December 1870	William Major Margaret Deycle	William Major Margaret Deyell 💍 1870/7680	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 23	Christchurch Do	1 week 4 years	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser		12 December 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2323	14 December 1870	William Wempsey Mary Ann Blackmore	William Dempsey Mary Ann Blackmore 💍 1870/7674	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 25	Christchurch Do	3 days 3 years	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser		14 December 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2324	17 December 1870	Albert Edward Orange Sarah Ann Smith	Albert Edward Orange Sarah Ann Smith 💍 1870/7677	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	20 21	Christchurch Heathcote Valley	2 years 5 years	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser		17 December 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2325	19 December 1870	William Heig Elizabeth Adelaide Green	William Keig Elizabeth Adelaide Brooker 💍 1870/7305 William Wright Elizabeth Andrew 💍 1870/5037	Bachelor Spinster	Millwright	20 21	Addington Addington	1 year 2 years	In the House of Mr. Thompson		19 December 1870	Rev. A. R. Fitchett
2326	20 December 1870	James Green Ann Bratherta Brouton	James Green Ann Bratherton Brouton 💍 1870/7749	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	34 34	Christchurch Do	2 weeks 6 years	Registrar Office		20 December 1870	B. Parkerson
2327	21 December 1870	George Henry Saxton Elizabeth North	George Henry Saxton Elizabeth North 💍 1870/3836	Bachelor Spinster	Millowner	34 32	Akaroa Christchurch	13 years 4 years	In the Church Akaroa		21 December 1870	Rev. C. Bryen Hoare
2328	21 December 1870	James Taaffe Hannah Buckley	James Taaffe Hannah Buckley 💍 1870/7425	Bachelor Spinster	Mason Cook	31 25	Christchurch Do	9 years 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel		21 December 1870	Rev. Father Cherrier

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).