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 473

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
2430	1 June 1871	James McKinsley Sarah Holea	James McKinlay Sarah Holland 💍 1871/5835 James Cavaney Sarah James 💍 1871/4764	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	20 19	Addington Do	2 weeks 1 week	In the House of Allan McKinsley	714/660	There is no person having authority to give consent	1 June 1871	Rev. C. Fraser
2431	3 June 1871	William Campbell Walker Margaret Wilson	William Campbell Walker Margaret Wilson 💍 1871/8844	Bachelor Spinster	Riccarton	33 22	Riccarton Do	2 weeks 5 years	In the Church	71/693		3 June 1871	Rev. C. Bowen
2432	5 June 1871	Peter McKenna Helen Thornton	Peter McKenna Helen Thornton 💍 1871/5838	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 18	Selwyn Christchurch	6 months 4 years	In the House	714/661	Thomas Thornton, Father	5 June 1871	Rev. C. Fraser
2433	6 June 1871	Robert Wheatley Mary Anderson	Robert Wheatley Mary Anderson 💍 1871/8322	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	34 30	Christchurch Do	4 years 5 years	In the Church of St Luke	712/514		6 June 1871	Rev. J. A. Lingard
2434	9 June 1871	James Moodie Mary Clark	James Moodie Mary Clark 💍 1871/5865 Raffaele Portelli Mary Clark 💍 1871/4929	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Dressmaker	32 34	Christchurch Do	6 years 3 years	In the House of Robert Clark	71/670		9 June 1871	Rev. J. Douglas
2435	9 June 1871	William Pearce Hebdtich Emma Gale	William Pearce Hetditch Emma Gale 💍 1871/5841	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 21	Leeston Do	6 years 10 months	In the Scotch Church Guam Street	711/662		9 June 1871	Rev. C. Fraser
2436	9 June 1871	James Cookson Margaret Teston	James Colston Margaret Sexton 💍 1871/5727 James Craig Margaret Wilson 💍 1871/4953 James O'Connor Margaret Guerin 💍 1871/8292 James Tolerton Margaret McFaddin 💍 1871/5733 James Purkiss Margaret Ryan 💍 1871/5547 James McEwen Margaret Smith 💍 1871/4893	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	48 36	Christchurch Do	1 week 1 week	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	711/624		9 June 1871	Rev. C. Fraser
2437	13 June 1871	William Price Elizabeth Darby	William Price Elizabeth Darby 💍 1871/8325	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Servant	30 34	Papanui Road Do	6 years 6 months	In the Church of St Luke	712/515		13 June 1871	Rev. J. A. Lingard
2438	14 June 1871	Patrick McWeedy Sarah Nelly	Patrick McEvedy Sarah Nelly 💍 1871/5730	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper Servant	27 24	Christchurch Do	6 months 4 months	In the Roman Catholic Chapel Christchurch	711/625		14 June 1871	Rev. Father Cheruvier
2439	15 June 1871	John Millichand Fanny Taplin	John Millichamp Fanny Taplin 💍 1871/9090	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Papanui Do	4 months 4 months	In the Avonside Church	71/775		15 June 1871	Rev. E. Giles
2441	16 June 1871	William Cookson Annie Rose Stymen	William Cookson Annie Von Stryen 💍 1871/9051	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Servant	26 26	Christchurch Riccarton	11 years 2 months	In the Church	71/762		16 June 1871	Rev. C. Bowen

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).