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 494

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
2296	11 November 1870	Kederick Cove Sarah Barnard	Frederick Cone Sarah Barnard 💍 1870/7293	Bachelor Spinster	Servant Servant	30 20	Yae Japu Yae Japu	2 years 3 years	In the House of R. W. Kirk	Thomas Barnard, Father	11 November 1870	Rev. W. Kirk
2297	11 November 1870	James Graham Mary Allott	James Graham Mary Allott 💍 1870/7299	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Servant	27 18	Christchurch North Road	8 months 5 years	In the Wesleyan Chapel	William Allott, Father	11 November 1870	Rev. W. Kirk
2298	11 November 1870	Jason Davies Grace Watson	Jason Davies Grace Watson 💍 1870/7881	Bachelor Widow	Butcher	36 30	Courtenay Do	6 years 5 years	In the House of Mrs Watson		11 November 1870	Rev. J. Pemberton
2299	12 November 1870	Daniel Walsh Mary Glynn	Daniel Welsh Mary Glynn 💍 1870/7413	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	35 35	Christchurch Do	4 years 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel		12 November 1870	Rev. Father Chervier
2300	12 November 1870	William Whese Ann Kennedy	William Walsh Ann Kennedy 💍 1870/7416	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	35 35	Christchurch Do	7 years 6 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel		12 November 1870	Rev. Father Chervier
2301	14 November 1870	Thomas Bradford Emily Fleming	Thomas Bradford Emily Fleming 💍 1870/7266	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dairywoman	31 23	Christchurch Do	4 years 3 years	In the Church of St. John	A. Bryen Hoare	14 November 1870	Rev. A. Bryen Hoare
2302	15 November 1870	George McClure Susannah Hogg	George McLure Susannah Hogg 💍 1870/7662	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	30 26	Spreydon Christchurch	8 years 6 years	In the Scotch Church Graham Street	B. Fraser	15 November 1870	Rev. B. Fraser
2303	15 November 1870	Richard Wilson Prudentia Anderson	Richard Wilson Prudentia Anderson 💍 1870/7854	Bachelor Spinster	Publican Servant	23 22	Christchurch Do	1 week 6 months	In the Church of St. Michael	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs	15 November 1870	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2304	16 November 1870	William McCausland Susan Taylor	William McCausland Susan Taylor 💍 1870/7650	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 25	Templeton Do	10 months 10 months	In the House of J. R. Smith	B. Fraser	16 November 1870	Rev. B. Fraser
2305	16 November 1870	William Gartside Rachael Dunlop	William Gartrell Rachel Dunlop 💍 1870/7659	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	35 32	Prebbleton Christchurch	4 years 6 years	In the House of R. C. Fraser	B. Fraser	16 November 1870	Rev. B. Fraser
2306	16 November 1870	George Gould Jane Lucas	George Gould Jane Lucas 💍 1870/7302	Widower Spinster	Merchant	47 34	Christchurch Do	19 years 3 years	In the House of Mr. George Gould		16 November 1870	Rev. I. Aldred

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).