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 488

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
2246	6 September 1870	James Clarke Jane Boulby	James Clarke Jane Goulby 💍 1870/7383 James Clarke Catherine Norton 💍 1871/4551	Bachelor Widow	Shoemaker	57 40	Christchurch Do	7 years 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Chapel Christchurch		6 September 1870	Rev. Father Chevrier
2247	7 September 1870	Robert Bolam Jeffs Frances Matilda Landsear		Bachelor Spinster	Fitter Servant	29 19	Christchurch Do	5 Days 3 months	In the United Free Methodist Church		7 September 1870	Rev. M. Baxter
2248	7 September 1870	William Humphries Gibbs Mary Henderson	William Humphries Gibbs Mary Henderson 💍 1870/7209	Bachelor Spinster	Barman Servant	22 21	Christchurch Do	1 year 1 year	In the Church of St Luke Christchurch		7 September 1870	Rev. J. A. Lingard
2249	9 September 1870	Thomas Everard Upton Emma Adams	Thomas Everard Upton Eunice Adams 💍 1870/7878	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	25 18	Malvern Hills near Rakaia	4 years 1 year	In the House of William Adams	William Adams trustee	9 September 1870	Rev. J. L. Pember
2250	10 September 1870	William John Brown Mary Agnes McWha	William John Brown Mary Agnes McWha 💍 1870/7620	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Hunter	38 17	Selwyn Do	3 years 3 years	In the House Rakaia	John McWha Father	10 September 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2251	12 September 1870	John William Anderson Mary Ann Anderson	John William Anderson Mary Ann Anderson 💍 1870/7845	Bachelor Spinster	Road Overseer	36 25	Rakaia Christchurch	6 years 3 years	In the Church of St Michael Christchurch		12 September 1870	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2252	12 September 1870	William Henry Broad Jemima Rapley	Wm Henry Broad Jemima Raphley 💍 1870/7608	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 22	Papanui Do	1 year 10 years	In the House		12 September 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2253	14 September 1870	Thomas Harford Eliza Rosina Davidson	Thomas Harford Elizabeth Rosina Davidson 💍 1870/7848	Widower Widow	Gardener Servant	42 32	Christchurch Do	3 years 3 years	In the Church of St Michael Christchurch		14 September 1870	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2254	15 September 1870	Tyson Hodgson Mary Ann Little	Tyson Hodgson Mary Ann Little 💍 1870/7212	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	32 21	Christchurch Do	3 Days 2 years	In the Church of St Luke Christchurch		15 September 1870	Rev. J. A. Lingard
2255	19 September 1870	Arthur Nelson Margaret Archibald	John Nelson Margaret Archibald 💍 1870/7626	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 16	West Melton Addington	2 years 6 years	In the House	James Archibald Father	19 September 1870	Rev. C. Fraser
2256	19 September 1870	Friedrich Gerkin [UNCLEAR] Viebrod		Bachelor Widow	Farmer	37 30	Tai Tapu Lincoln Road	5 years 3 years	In the House		19 September 1870	Rev. C. Fraser

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).