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 476

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
2454	10 July 1871	Mark Lusin Elizabeth Gadd	Mark Lusin Elizabeth Gadd 💍 1871/5661	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Servant	29 23	Ellesmere [UNCLEAR]	4 years 6 months	In the Church of St. Michael	M 71/601	10 July 1871	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2455	12 July 1871	John Mohr Elizabeth Ann Leigh	John Mohr Elizabeth Hannah Leigh 💍 1871/8334	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	29 26	Christchurch Malvern Hills	4 years 3 weeks	In the Church of St. Luke	M 42 518	12 July 1871	Rev. E. A. Lingard
2456	18 July 1871	Walter Allen Sheppard Catherine Wilson Malcolm	Walter Allen Sheppard Catherine Wilson Malcolm 💍 1871/7587	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	35 24	Christchurch Do	12 years 2 years	In the House of Mrs Malcolm	M 42 265	18 July 1871	Rev. J. W. Habens
2457	20 July 1871	Frank Lloyd Ellen Higgins	Frank Lloyd Ellen Higgins 💍 1871/7614	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 30	Rolleston Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Catholic Chapel	M 42 274	20 July 1871	Rev. Joseph Maria Couyer
2458	22 July 1871	Thomas Pearson Mary Johnston	Thomas Pearson Mary Ellen Johnston 💍 1871/5664	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	26 23	Addington Ellesmere	9 months 3 weeks	In the Church of St. Michael	M 71/602	22 July 1871	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2459	22 July 1871	Richard Humphrey Charlotte Harrison	Richard Humphreys Charlotte Harrison 💍 1871/8364	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	33 21	Fari Japu Do	4 years 12 years	In the House of Rev. C Kaser	M 42 526	22 July 1871	Rev. C Kaser
2460	22 July 1871	Albert Thomas Weaver Sarah M. McCormick	Albert Thomas Walker Beadwell Sarah McCormick 💍 1871/8367	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	24 24	Christchurch Do	10 years 2 years	In the House of Rev. C Kaser	M 42 529	22 July 1871	Rev. C Kaser
2461	24 July 1871	Thomas Crossen Ellen Sculley	Thomas Crosson Ellen Scully 💍 1871/8370	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 21	Templeton Do	3 years 6 mths	In the House of Rev. C Kaser	M 42 530	24 July 1871	Rev. C Kaser
2462	24 July 1871	Robert Brown Ellen Bauham	Robert Brown Marshall Ellen Bonham 💍 1871/8376 Robert Howe Ellen Doyle 💍 1871/5613	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	39 35	Prebbleton Christchurch	9 years 2 years	In the House of Rev. C Fraser	M 42 532	24 July 1871	Rev. C Fraser

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).