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 486

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
2509	20 September 1871	Walter Edward Munday Sarah Coxspring	Walter Edward Munday Sarah Oxspring 💍 1871/9075	Bachelor Spinster								4 October 1871	R. S. Bailey
2521	3 October 1871	Peter Paecie Mary Amelia Millwood Jordan	Peter Pacci Mary Amelia Mildred Jordan 💍 1871/7623	Bachelor Spinster	Dealer Musician	29 27	Christchurch Do	5 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church	274		14 October 1871	M. M. Ecuyer
2522	4 October 1871	John Herrist Mariares Patterson		Bachelor Widow	Barber Servant	27 32	Christchurch Do	1 year 1 year	In the House of Rev. C Kaser	561		24 October 1871	Rev. C Kaser
2523	6 October 1871	Ferdinando George Cradock Amelia Lum	Ferdinand George Cradock Amelia Lunn 💍 1871/8175	Bachelor Spinster	Horsebreaker	30 22	Riccarton Do	1 year 1 year	Near the Riccarton Church	7/1464		6 October 1871	Rev. C Bowen
2524	7 October 1871	Robert There Sarah Ann Thryngton	Robert Atherne Sarah Ann Shrimpton 💍 1871/8445 Robert Taylor Sarah Ann Durand 💍 1871/5151	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	25 29	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Days 3 Days	In the House of Rev. C Kaser	5/56		17 October 1871	Rev. C Kaser
2525	9 October 1871	William Barnete Elizabeth Dinna	William Barnett Elizabeth Emma Powell 💍 1871/7593 William Price Elizabeth Darby 💍 1871/8325 William Edward Veale Elizabeth Hunt 💍 1871/5604 William Standen Elizabeth Jones 💍 1871/4566 William Madams Elizabeth Burns 💍 1871/8046 William Jones Elizabeth Hamling 💍 1871/4854 William Horwood Elizabeth Garner 💍 1871/8136 William Taylor Elizabeth James 💍 1871/9195 William Wills Elizabeth Ryan 💍 1871/8574 William MacDonald Elizabeth Hood 💍 1871/6120 William Henry Bull Elizabeth Davis 💍 1871/6852	Bachelor Spinster	Station owner	26 20	Le Bon's Bay Christchurch	8 years 3 weeks	In the House of William Bates, Akaroa	18/124	Richard Powell, father	9 October 1871	Rev. W. J. Habens
2526	9 October 1871	Thomas Pearson Aline Jury	Thomas Pearson Olive Jury 💍 1871/8448	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	27 22	Christchurch Do	3 Days 3 Days	In the House of Rev. C Kaser	55/40		9 October 1871	Rev. C Kaser
2527	11 October 1871	Charles Edward Plwart Templeton Ellen Saward	Charles Edward Stuart Helen Saward 💍 1871/8451	Widower Spinster	Schoolmaster	26 22	Templeton Christchurch	6 mths 3 weeks	In the House of Rev. C Kaser	5/58		11 October 1871	Rev. C Kaser
2528	16 October 1871	James Lemon Maria Bright	James Lemon Maria Bright 💍 1871/8454	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	35 21	Christchurch Do	4 days 4 days	In the House of Rev. C Kaser	5/59		16 October 1871	Rev. C Kaser

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).