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 467

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
2378	11 March 1871	John Alfred Banford Mary Phillips	John Alfred Bamford Mary Phillips 💍 1871/5790	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner Servant	28 25	Christchurch Do	1 year 1 year	In the House of Rev C Fraser	M1/645		11 March 1871	Rev C Fraser
2379	11 March 1871	John Kever Ellen Kite	John Kerr Ellen Kite 💍 1871/5793	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 20	Ellesmere Do	2 years 2 years	In the House of Rev C Fraser	M1/646	There is no person having authority to give Consent	11 March 1871	Rev C Fraser
2380	13 March 1871	Frederick Charles Last Emily Martin	Frederic Charles East Emily Martin 💍 1871/9270	Bachelor Spinster	Lithographer	23 21	Christchurch Avonside	13 years 11 years	In the Avonside Church	42		13 March 1871	Rev G Cotterill
2381	20 March 1871	Charles Fisher Elizabeth Vincent	Charles Fisher Elizabeth Vincent 💍 1871/8307	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	30 22	Christchurch Do	3 Days 3 Days	In the Church of St Luke	509		20 March 1871	Rev E A Lingard
2382	21 March 1871	Frank Stigley Mary Stokes	Frank Higley Mary Stocks 💍 1871/5634	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor Servant	29 27	Rakaia Do	2 years 2 years	In the Church of St Michael	M1/592		21 March 1871	Very Rev Dean Jacobs
2383	24 March 1871	Charles Genet Emily Bushuale	Charles Genet Emily Bushnall 💍 1871/5799	Bachelor Spinster	Coffee roaster Servant	23 24	Christchurch Do	3 years in the Christchurch mills	In the House of Rev C Fraser	M1/648		24 March 1871	Rev C Fraser
2384	24 March 1871	Alfred Augustus North Laura Ann Bargroun	Alfred Augustus North Laura Anne Bargrove 💍 1871/8310	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Governess	25 22	Christchurch Do	5 years 12 years	In the Church of St Luke
2385	27 March 1871	Thomas Saddler Mary Morrison	Thomas Saddler Mary Morrison 💍 1871/5805	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer Servant	36 30	Christchurch Do	1 year 4 years	In the House of Mr McGregor North Town Belt	M1/650		27 March 1871	Rev C Fraser
2386	30 March 1871	Charles Edwards Minnie Thompson	Charles Edwards Minnie Thompson 💍 1871/5802	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	39 35	Selwyn Christchurch	7 years 4 Days	In the House of Rev C Fraser	M1/649		30 March 1871	Rev C Fraser
2387	30 March 1871	William Olliver Sarah Charlotte Fitchett	William Calder Oliver Sarah Charlotte Fitchett 💍 1871/8793	Bachelor Spinster	Minister of the Gospel	24 22	Springston Christchurch	1 year 2 months	In the Wesleyan Chapel	42		30 March 1871	Rev W Kirk

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).