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 464

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
2345	14 January 1871	Thomas Appleyard Martha Willis	Thomas Appleyard Martha Willis 💍 1871/5754	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	30 20	Christchurch Do	9 years 1 year	In the House of Mrs Willis	M 91/633	Martha Willis, Mother	14 January 1871	Rev. C Fraser
2346	16 January 1871	James Smith Mary Jane Holland	James Smith Mary Jane Holland 💍 1871/5760	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 19	West Melton Do	2 years 2 years	In the House of Rev. C Fraser	M 91/____	Robert Holland, Father	16 January 1871	Rev. C Fraser
2347	17 January 1871	John Adam Hausman Minnie Boroling	John Adam Heansemann Minnie Bowling 💍 1871/5763	Widower Spinster	Baker Servant	33 21	Addington Do	1 year 2 months	In the House of Rev. C Fraser	M 7/6.36.		17 January 1871	Rev. C Fraser
2348	18 January 1871	Henry Perrett Emily Perrett	Henry Perrett Emily Perrett 💍 1871/5757	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	20 21	Courtenay Do	3 years 3 days	In the House of Rev. C Fraser	M 7/634		18 January 1871	Rev. C Fraser
2349	19 January 1871	Walter Hartnall Sarah Ellree	Walter Hartnell Sarah Ellery 💍 1871/7566	Bachelor Spinster	Driver Servant	22 21	Christchurch Ferry Road	5 years 4 years	In the Heathcote Valley Church	M 91/258		19 January 1871	Rev. G Cholmondeley
2350	20 January 1871	Alfred Ward Elizabeth Ward		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 22	Courtenay Do	2 years 5 years	In the Riccarton Church			20 January 1871	Rev. C Bowen
2351	21 January 1871	Thomas Mitchell Bridget Ryan	Thomas Mitchell Bridget Ryan 💍 1871/5682	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 23	Rolleston Do	3 years 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	M 91/608		21 January 1871	Rev. Father Chervier
2352	23 January 1871	Richard Henry Challaway Annie Matilda Summerville	Rich Henry Chatway Annie Matilda Summerville 💍 1871/5766	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper Servant	23 21	Christchurch Do	3 Days 2 weeks	In the House of Rev. C Fraser	M 7/63___		23 January 1871	Rev. C Fraser
2353	24 January 1871	Arthur Messu Jane McGrigor	Arthur Messer Jane McGrigor 💍 1871/5877	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 22	Selwyn Licole Road	3 weeks 6 years	In the House of Rev. J Campbell	M 7/6774		24 January 1871	Rev. C Fraser
2354	25 January 1871	Leslie Heuley Ellen Keeler	Leslie Hendley Ellen Keeler 💍 1871/5901	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 23	Selwyn Christchurch	4 years 10 Days	In the Registrars Office	M 7/682		25 January 1871	[UNCLEAR]
2355	25 January 1871	Andrew Cockburn Mary Halloon	Andrew Cockburn Mary Fulloon 💍 1871/5844	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	38 24	Christchurch Do	1 month 8 years	In the House of Mrs Partridge	M 7/663		25 January 1871	Rev. W Kirk

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).