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 492

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
2274	15 October 1870	John Middemas Sarah Gunion	John Middlemas Sarah Gunnion 💍 1870/7635	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	27 25	Courtenay Christchurch	3 years 2 years	In the House of Rev. C Fraser, Christchurch		15 October 1870	Revd. C Fraser
2275	15 October 1870	John Stanley Monck Emma Tomes	John Stanley Monck Emma Tomes 💍 1870/7728	Bachelor Spinster	Stockowner	26 21	Sumner Papanui	1 year 2 years	In the Papanui Church		2 November 1870	Revd. L Moore
2276	18 October 1870	James Hamilton Kezia Gamblin	James Hamilton Keziah Gamblin 💍 1870/7638	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 8 years	In the House of Revd. C Fraser, Christchurch		18 October 1870	Revd. C Fraser
2277	18 October 1870	John Miller Manual Connor	John Miller Hannah Connor 💍 1870/7395	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	32 30	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch		18 October 1870	Revd. Father Chervier
2278	22 October 1870	Michael Keenan Mary Vaughan	Michael Keenan Mary Vaughan 💍 1870/7401	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 3 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch		22 October 1870	Revd. Father Chervier
2279	25 October 1870	John Simpson Lydia Francis Moore	John Simpson Lydia Frances Moore 💍 1870/7647	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 24	Prebbleton Heathcote	1 year 2 years	In the House of Revd. C Fraser, Christchurch		10 November 1870	Revd. C Fraser
2280	27 October 1870	Samuel Price Elizabeth O'Reilly	Samuel Price Elizabeth O'Reilly 💍 1870/7404	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 20	Southbridge Southbridge	18 months 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch	There is no person having authority to give consent	27 October 1870	Revd. Father Chervier
2281	28 October 1870	Edmund Vague Rebecca Miller Darby	Edmund Vague Rebecca Miller Darby 💍 1870/7290	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Machinist	22 28	St Albans St Albans	6 months 10 months	In the House of Rebecca Darby, St. Albans		28 October 1870	Revd. J Aldred
2282	3 November 1870	Edward Brosnahan Catherine Driscoll	Edmund Brosnahan Catherine Driscoll 💍 1870/7407	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 21	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 3 months	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch		3 November 1870	Revd. Father Chervier
2283	4 November 1870	Samuel Goodman Emma Piper	Samuel Goodman Emma Piper 💍 1870/7641	Widower Widow	Storekeeper	58 57	Avonside Christchurch	4 years 10 years	In the House of Revd. C Fraser, Christchurch		4 November 1870	Revd. C Fraser
2284	5 November 1870	Samuel Bingham Elizabeth Thomas	Samuel Bingham Elizabeth Jane Thomas 💍 1870/7713	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	31 23	Halswell Christchurch	7 years 1 year	In the Riccarton Church		5 November 1870	Revd. C Bowen

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).