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 470

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
2397	8 April 1871	John Dunphy Grace Annie Vickery	John Murphy Grace Annie Vickery 💍 1871/5697	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 18	Christchurch Do	3 years 1 week	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	M 711	John Vickery, Father	8 April 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2398	12 April 1871	Joseph Herdman Mary Jane Husband	Joseph Henderson Andrews Mary Jane Husband 💍 1871/9039	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer Servant	27 21	Christchurch Do	2 years 1 year	In the Church of St. John	613	Father Joseph Herdman	12 April 1871	Rev. E. Bailey
2399	14 April 1871	Michael Kearney Mary Quinn	Michael Carney Mary Quain 💍 1871/5700 Michael Hayden Mary Keenan 💍 1871/3884	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 21	Christchurch Do	3 Days 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel Ashburton	[UNCLEAR]		14 April 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2400	14 April 1871	John Walter Mulville Emma Agnes Feles	John Walter Melville Emma Agnes Sells 💍 1871/5820	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 30	Christchurch Do	1 week 1 week	In the House of Mr. J.G. Fraser	M 711/6 55		14 April 1871	Rev. G. Fraser
2401	14 April 1871	John Jamieson Duncan Margaret Carvole	John Jameson Duncan Margaret Carroll 💍 1871/5703	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 23	Southbridge Do	14 years 14 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	M 711/615		14 April 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2402	15 April 1871	John Tierney Sarah Quigley	John Tierney Sarah Quigley 💍 1871/7569	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	33 29	Ferry Road Christchurch	1 month 5 years	In the Ferry Road	M 911 1979		15 April 1871	Rev. J.G. Cholmondeley
2403	17 April 1871	Patrick Grady Ellen Carr	Patrick Grady Ellen Carr 💍 1871/5709	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	26 25	Hands Road Do	6 years 2 months	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	M 711/617		17 April 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2404	18 April 1871	William Huids Margaret Ann Moreland	William Hinds Margaret Ann Moreland 💍 1871/5715	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Housekeeper	30 24	Malvern Do	5 years 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	M 711/620		18 April 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2405	22 April 1871	James Vickery Annie Stevens	James Vickery Annie Stevenson 💍 1871/5712	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 21	Riccarton Do	20 years 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	M 711/618		22 April 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2406	29 April 1871	James Price Eliza Jane Allen	James Price Eliza Jane Allen 💍 1871/5856	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	25 23	St. Albans Do	1 year 1 week	In the House of Mr. H. Wilson	M 711/667		29 April 1871	Rev. W. Kirk
2407	29 April 1871	Alfred Dunk Jane Edith Fraser	Alfred Dunk Jane Edith Fraser 💍 1871/8313	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	24 24	Avonside Do	4 months 2 years	In the Church of St. Luke	IR 92 511		29 April 1871	Rev. E.A. Lingard

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).