Intentions to Marry, 1871

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840383, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, November 15 2024

Page 465

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1871

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
2356	25 January 1871	Peter Henry Dougall Tryphena Cox	Peter Henry Dougall Stephena Cox 💍 1871/5769	Bachelor Spinster	Lithographer Dressmaker	23 24	Christchurch Do	6 years 6 years	In the House of Rev C Fraser	M 7/638		25 January 1871	Rev C Fraser
2357	26 January 1871	John Borwick Hannah Carter	John Bowick Hannah Carter 💍 1871/5772	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	25 21	Christchurch Do	3 Days 3 Days	In the House of Rev C Fraser	M 7/639		26 January 1871	Rev C Fraser
2358	26 January 1871	William Geech Mary Ann Taylor	William Genit Mary Taylor 💍 1871/5778	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	31 24	Christchurch Do	4 years 6 years	In the House of Rev C Fraser	M 7/641		26 January 1871	Rev C Fraser
2359	28 January 1871	Charles Robert Parsons Eliza Nichols	Charles Robert Parsons Eliza Nichols 💍 1871/5847	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Dressmaker	29 29	Christchurch Do	5 years 3 years	Wesleyan Chapel Durham Street	M 7/664		28 January 1871	Rev W Kirk
2360	28 January 1871	Henry Williams Ann Delia Mills	Henry Williams Ann Delia Mills 💍 1871/5775	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	46 25	Courtenay Do	3 years 3 years	In the House of Rev C Fraser	M 7/640		28 January 1871	Rev C Fraser
2361	3 February 1871	Henry Wilson Elizabeth Sarah Hislop	Henry Wilson Elizabeth Sarah Hislop 💍 1871/5880	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	21 17	Southbridge Do	2 years Smith Southbridge	In the House of Mr Hislop	M 7/675	William Hislop, Father	3 February 1871	Rev W Campbell
2362	6 February 1871	Robert McKay Harriett Green		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 20	Christchurch Do	3 Days 3 Days	In the House of Rev C Fraser	M 7/642	There is no person having authority to give consent	6 February 1871	Rev C Fraser
2363	9 February 1871	Robert Stansell Margaret Malley	Robert Stansell Margaret Malley 💍 1871/5898	Bachelor Widow	Miner	24 25	Christchurch Do	1 month 1 month	In the Christchurch Church	M 7/681	Acurside my knowledge	9 February 1871	Rev G Cotterill
2364	10 February 1871	Josef Lovett Ann Ward	Josef Lorett Anne Ward 💍 1871/5886	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 25	Malvern Hills Do	6 years 6 years	In the Malvern Hills Church	M 7/677		10 February 1871	Rev F Pencher
2365	13 February 1871	Robert Smith Elizabeth Allen	Robert Smith Elizabeth Allen 💍 1871/5784	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	23 21	Christchurch Do	1 week 1 week	In the House of Rev C Fraser	M 7/643		13 February 1871	Rev C Fraser
2366	14 February 1871	Louis Schwid Kate Amelia Muiggett	Louis Schmid Kate Amelia Wingyett 💍 1871/5688	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor Servant	23 20	Christchurch Do	2 years 5 mths	In the Roman Catholic Chapel Smiths Christchurch	610	There is no person having authority to give consent	14 February 1871	Rev Father Chervier

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).