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 466

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
2367	14 February 1871	Samuel Hall Catherine Matheson	Samuel Hall Catherine Matheson 💍 1871/5787	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	29 23	Papanui Road Christchurch	15 years 1 month	In the House of Rev. C. Hasen	M 7/1/644		March 1 1871	Rev. C. Hasen
2368	17 February 1871	Frederick George Morgan Mary Ahern	Frederick George Morgan Mary Ahern 💍 1871/5685	Widower Spinster	Barrister at Law	44 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 month 2 weeks	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	M 7/1/649		February 17 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2369	20 February 1871	Michael Lawlor Mary Lawlor	Michael Lawlor Mary Lawlor 💍 1871/5691	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	20 25	Christchurch Do	1 year 5 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	M 7/1/661		February 20 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2370	22 February 1871	John Wavey Edith Gertrude Leslie	John Davey Edith Gertrude Leslie 💍 1871/5895	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Servant	34 19	St. Albans Do	4 years 6 months	In the Papanui Church	680	There is no person having authority to give consent	February 22 1871	Rev. L. Moore
2371	28 February 1871	John Low Frances Sophia Price	John Low Francis Sophia Price 💍 1871/5850	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	39 27	River Styx Christchurch	10 years 7 years	In the House of Rev. W. Kirk	M 7/1/665		March 15 1871	Rev. W. Kirk
2372	2 March 1871	Robert Anderson Lucinda Sophia Brown	Robert Anderson Lucinda Sophia Browne 💍 1871/5814	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 20	Malvern Christchurch	2 years 2 months	In the House of Rev. C. Hasen	M 7/1/653	There is no person having authority to give consent	March 1 1871	Rev. C. Hasen
2373	3 March 1871	John Suckling Sarah Cornelia Mills	John Suckling Sarah Cornelia Mills 💍 1871/5796	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	25 20	Christchurch Do	5 years 11 years	In the House of Rev. C. Hasen	M 7/1/674	Alexander Miles, Father	March 20 1871	Rev. C. Hasen
2374	6 March 1871	James Councle Mary Lager	James O'Connell Mary Eagan 💍 1871/5694 James Connors Mary Halpin 💍 1871/8973 James Donaldson Mary Kane 💍 1871/5718	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 35	Rolleston Do	2 weeks 2 weeks	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	M 7/1/672		March 6 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2375	9 March 1871	Simon Forsyth Margaret Rothery	Simon Forsyth Margaret Rothery 💍 1871/9282	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 20	Leeston Do	4 years 4 years	In the Southbridge Church		Henry Rothery, Father	March 9 1871	Rev. J. G. Bluett
2376	9 March 1871	William Kerrison Mary Grimlin	William Kerrison Mary Fremblin 💍 1871/5637	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 22	Christchurch Do	15 years 6 months	In the Church of St. Michael	M 7/1/593		March 24 1871	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2377	9 March 1871	James Renton Lucy Beddowe Wartuall	James Renlon Lucy Beddome Dartnall 💍 1871/5889	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	23 21	Christchurch Do	3 years 3 years	In the House of Mr. Johnston	M 7/1/678		March 9 1871	Rev. J. Aldred

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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).