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 476

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
2138	15 March 1870	Robert Fenton Harriet Bates	Robert Fenton Harriet Bates 💍 1870/7509	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 7 years	In the House of Revd. C Fraser, Christchurch		15 March 1870	Revd. C Fraser
2139	15 March 1870	George Phillip Daye Rosina Afford	George Phillip Daye Rosina Afford 💍 1870/7734	Widower Spinster	Tinsmith Dressmaker	43 29	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 5 years	In the Registrar's Office, Christchurch		15 March 1870	B Parkerson Jnr.
2140	15 March 1870	Johann Mehrtens Wilhelmina Gloistein	Johann Mehrtens Wielhelmina Glostein 💍 1870/7506	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 20	Leeston Lincoln Road	4 years 6 months	In the House of Revd. C Fraser, Christchurch	There is no person having authority to give consent	15 March 1870	Revd. C Fraser
2141	17 March 1870	Reginald Foster Lucy Grierson	Reginald Foster Lucy Grierson 💍 1870/7809	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	10 Days 4 years	In the Church of St Michael, Christchurch		17 March 1870	Very Revd. Dean Jacobs
2142	18 March 1870	Thomas Greenen Catherine McAnulty	Thomas Greenen Catherine McNally 💍 1870/7326	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 24	Leeston Christchurch	3 years 1 month	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch		18 March 1870	Revd. Father Chataigner
2143	19 March 1870	James Smith Ann Donohugh	James Smith Ann Donohugh 💍 1870/7329	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 25	Avonside Avonside	3 weeks 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch		19 March 1870	Revd. Father Chervier
2144	23 March 1870	Henry Augustus Dykes Annie McLean	Henry Augustus Dykes Anne McLean 💍 1870/7230	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	27 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 3 months	In the Church of St John, Christchurch		23 March 1870	Revd. O Bryen Hoare
2145	23 March 1870	Thomas Williams Mary Hopwood	Thomas Williams Mary Hopwood 💍 1870/7782	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Housekeeper	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Days 3 Days	In the Church of St Michael, Christchurch		23 March 1870	Very Revd. Dean Jacobs
2146	23 March 1870	Edward Barrett Elizabeth Murphy	Edward Barrett Mary Elizabeth Murphy 💍 1870/7332	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Cook	25 17	Heathcote Heathcote	10 years 10 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch	Mary Murphy, Mother	23 March 1870	Revd. Father Chataigner
2147	24 March 1870	Edward O Farrell Harriet Jordan	Edward O'Farrell Harriet Jordan 💍 1870/7788	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	25 21	Mount Grey, Christchurch Christchurch	3 Days 8 months	In the Church of St Michael, Christchurch		24 March 1870	Very Revd. Dean Jacobs
2148	25 March 1870	William Wilson Harriet Woodham	William Wilson Harriet Woodham 💍 1870/7785	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 18	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 6 years	In the Church of St Michael, Christchurch	Henry Woodham, Father	25 March 1870	Very Revd. 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 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).