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 480

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
2163	16 April 1870	John Shepherd Mary Ann Langford	John Shepherd Margaret Langford 💍 1870/7794	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	35 21	Yaldhurst Yaldhurst	5 years 2 years	In the Church of St Michael		16 April 1870	Very Rev Dean Jacobs
2164	16 April 1870	Shirley Edward Henry Auxie Teresa Riordan		Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Servant	31 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 6 years	In the Registrar Office		16 April 1870	B. Barrerson
2165	18 April 1870	James Henry Hazer Mary Lizzie Spriggs		Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Nurse	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 6 years	In the House of R. B. Fraser		18 April 1870	Rev. B. Fraser
2166	19 April 1870	Charles White Selina Davies	Charles White Selina Davis 💍 1870/7707	Bachelor Spinster	Publican Servant	25 26	Courtenay Courtenay	14 months 14 months	In the Riccarton Church		19 April 1870	Rev. B. Bowen
2167	20 April 1870	George Scott Sarah Ann Spicer	George Scott Sarah Ann Spicer 💍 1870/7524	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	26 22	Malvern Hills Christchurch	1 year 3 years	In the House of Henry Spicer		20 April 1870	Rev. B. Fraser
2168	20 April 1870	Joseph Elliott Catherine Gilchrist	Joseph Elliott Catherine Gilchrist 💍 1870/7536	Bachelor Spinster	Servant Servant	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	In the Scotch Church	There is no person having authority to give consent.	20 April 1870	Rev. B. Fraser
2169	21 April 1870	Walter Charles Tinkler Emily English	Waller Charles Tinkler Emily English 💍 1870/7530	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser Servant	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 5 years	In the House of R. B. Fraser		21 April 1870	Rev. B. Fraser
2170	22 April 1870	James Pitkie Martha Wise	James Pithie Martha Wise 💍 1870/7446	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman Servant	26 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	In the Church of St John		22 April 1870	Rev. G. Cholmondeley
2171	23 April 1870	Henry Perceval Malthus Caroline Somerville	Henry Perceval Malthus Elizabeth Caroline Somerville 💍 1870/7800	Bachelor Spinster	Hot House Owner Servant	27 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Church of St Michael	There is no person having authority to give consent.	23 April 1870	Very Rev Dean Jacobs
2172	23 April 1870	Edward Adams Beasley Martha Amelia Wall	Edward Adams Beesly Martha Amelia Webb 💍 1870/7533	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter Cook	26 19	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 3 years	In the House of R. B. Fraser		23 April 1870	Rev. B. Fraser
2173	25 April 1870	James Irving Elizabeth Purdon	James Irving Elizabeth Purdom 💍 1870/7797	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor Servant	28 18	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 6 months	In the Church of St Michael	Peter Purdon, Father	25 April 1870	The Very Rev Dean Jacobs

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).