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 482

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
2508	19 September 1871	James Walker Catherine Lee	James Ell Walker Catherine Lee 💍 1871/5676	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner Servant	29 32	Christchurch	1 month 2 weeks	St Michael's Church	760	19 September 1871	Very Rev Dean Jacobs
2509	20 September 1871	Walter Edward Munday Sarah Case Forcing	Walter Edward Munday Sarah Oxspring 💍 1871/9075	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Servant	24 24	Christchurch	3 years	St John's Church	97
2510	21 September 1871	Thomas William Ellen Kennard	Thomas Williams Ellen Kennard 💍 1871/8823	Bachelor Widow	Gardener	40 40	St Albans	14 years	Papauni Church	684	21 September 1871	Rev. L Moore
2511	21 September 1871	Richard May Morten Helen Vernon Nownes	Richard May Morten Helen Vernon Downes 💍 1871/8304	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	39 30	Prebbleton Christchurch	8 years 3 months	Templeton Church	71/1508	21 September 1871	Rev W E Paige
2512	22 September 1871	Francis Benjamin Greenup Jane Brown	Francis Benjamin Greenup Jane Brown 💍 1871/8802	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	34 21	Christchurch	2 years	Mrs Brown's House	693	22 September 1871	Rev A R Fitchett
2513	23 September 1871	William Christian Jane Hitchingman		Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	27 21	Papauni Christchurch	8 years 1 month	Wesleyan Church		23 September 1871	Rev A R Fitchett
2514	25 September 1871	Theodore Libeau Elizabeth Bond	Theodore Libeau Elizabeth Bevans 💍 1871/8433	Bachelor Spinster	Station owner	25 24	Kaituna	5 years	House of Mr C Fraser	M.72/552	25 September 1871	Rev C Fraser
2515	25 September 1871	James Paul Mary Ann Ritchie	Samuel Paul Mary Ann Ritchie 💍 1871/8439	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 22	Christchurch	3 years	House of Mr C Fraser	M.72/554	25 September 1871	Rev C Fraser
2516	29 September 1871	Richard Rose Caroline Place	Richard Rose Caroline Stace 💍 1871/9276	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	28 21	Christchurch Avonside	1 week 20 years	Avonside Church		29 September 1871	Rev G Cotterill

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).