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 472

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
2419	18 May 1871	Dodrich Chapman Mary Baker	Dudrich Chapman Mary Baker 💍 1871/5832	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	20 21	Leeston Do	5 years 8 months	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser	M 11/659		18 May 1871	Rev. C. Fraser
2420	20 May 1871	Edward Peagrim Mary Myne	Edward Peagram Mary Myre 💍 1871/5724	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 23	Fendale Do	1 year 8 months	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	M 11/623		20 May 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2421	22 May 1871	George Milne Mary Batten-Graham	George Milne Mary Butler 💍 1871/5862	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	29 27	Christchurch Do	2 years 9 months	In the House of George Milne	M 11/669		22 May 1871	Rev. C. Fraser
2422	25 May 1871	Graham Router Mercy Pierce	Graham Hunter Pierce Mercy Peach 💍 1871/5652	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	25 24	Addington Do	2 years 9 months	In the Church of St. Michael	M 11/592		22 June 1871	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2423	25 May 1871	Henry Fielder Martha Jane King	Henry Fielder Martha Jane King 💍 1871/5649	Bachelor Spinster	Cabrich maker Dressmaker	21 20	Christchurch Do	16 years 9 months	In the Church of St. Michael	M 11/59	There is no person having authority to join consent	24 May 1871	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2424	26 May 1871	William Anthony Caroline Bertha Cookson	William Anthony Benn Caroline Bertha Cookson 💍 1871/8319	Bachelor Spinster	Manufacturer of Flax	27 19	Christchurch Do	1 week 5 Days	In the Church of St. Luke	M 42 513	Marion Rubina Cookson, Mother	26 May 1871	Rev. R. A. Luigard
2425	26 May 1871	John Harper Elizabeth Hawker	John Harper Elizabeth Hawker 💍 1871/7572	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	25 19	Christchurch Do	5 years 10 years	In the Church of Apawa	M 11/600	James Hawker, Father	10 June 1871	Rev. G. Cholmondeley
2426	27 May 1871	George William Holland Mary Anne Withell	George William Holland Mary Ann Withell 💍 1871/9072	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 24	Riccarton Do	6 years 6 years	In the Church of Riccarton	71/1758		2 June 1871	Rev. C. Bowen
2427	29 May 1871	Julius Parker Charlotte Emily Hiles	Julius Augustus Parker Charlotte Emily Hills 💍 1871/5658	Bachelor Spinster	Blind maker Dressmaker	21 19	Christchurch Do	3 Days 19 years	In the Church of St. Michael of Lyttelton		William Hiles, Father	6 June 1871	Rev. C. Bowen
2428	29 May 1871	James Gregg Elizabeth McCartan	James Gregg Elizabeth Ann Cant 💍 1871/9069	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 21	Riccarton Do	8 years 8 years	In the Steam Church of Riccarton	91/1758		13 June 1871	Rev. C. Bowen
2429	29 May 1871	Henry Hall Margaret Hillen	Henry Hall Margaret Killeen 💍 1871/3890	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 30	Christchurch Do	2 weeks 2 weeks	In the Registrar's Office	M 11/683		29 May 1871	B. Parkinson

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).