Intentions to Marry, 1872

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840384, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 434

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Jan - Mar

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
2611	3 February 1872	Samuel Whittington Minnie Jane Gray	Samuel Whittington Millie Jones 💍 1872/6284	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	23 17	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 10 years	In the Heathcote Valley Church	72/1558	There is no person having authority	3 February 1872	Rev. J. G. Cholmondeley
2612	3 February 1872	William Henry Smith Louisa Jane Bell	William Henry Smith Louisa Jane Palmer 💍 1872/6197	Widower Spinster	Printer	37 21	Christchurch Do	8 years 2 years	In the Church of St. Michael	72/1528	Own Consent	3 February 1872	Very Revd Dean Jacob
2613	5 February 1872	Hugh Maher Jane Grant	Hugh Maher Jane Grant 💍 1872/8789	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	28 24	Christchurch Do	5 months 1 month	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	72/24		5 February 1872	Rev. J. M. Lequey
2614	5 February 1872	Thomas Hamilton Auson Heuritta Ann Gorle	Thomas Hamilton Anson Henrietta Ann Gorle 💍 1872/6830	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	30 22	Christchurch Courtenay	1 month 1 year	In Riccarton Church	72/902		5 February 1872	Rev. C. Bowen
2615	8 February 1872	James Webb Louisa Wilkins	James Webb Louisa Wilkins 💍 1872/7847	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 21	Christchurch Do	1 year 2 months	In the Church of St. John	72/129		8 February 1872	Rev. E. Bailey
2616	9 February 1872	Philip Marshall Elyatheth Coyne	Philip Marshall Elizabeth Comyns 💍 1872/6140	Bachelor Spinster	Watchman	34 24	Christchurch Do	1 week 1 week	In the Church of St. Luke	72/1510		9 February 1872	Rev. E. A. Lingard
2617	12 February 1872	Henry Thomas Sophia Coyle	Henry Thomas Sophia Coyle 💍 1872/6122	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	29 24	Christchurch Do	1 month 6 months	Registrar's Office	72/1504		12 February 1872	Wm. Harrison Esq
2618	12 February 1872	John William Green Selina Eliza Stirling Jame	John William Green Selina Eliza Jane Sterling 💍 1872/6683	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	24 20	Christchurch Springfield Road	20 years 1 year	In the House of John Green	72/1472	There is no person having authority	February 26	Rev. W. Kirk
2619	13 February 1872	Thomas John Davis Mary Ann Law	Thomas John Davis Mary Ann Evans 💍 1872/6194	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Servant	23 24	Christchurch Do	5 years 6 years	In the Church of St. Michael	72/1528	Own Consent	February 27	Very Revd Dean Jacob
2620	13 February 1872	Henry Spencer Elizabeth Wilson	Henry Spencer Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1872/5600 Richard Steward Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1872/4929 John Searle Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1872/6524	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 23	Christchurch Do	8 years 15 years	In the House of Mr. Baxter	72/1326		February 13	Rev. Jm. Baxter
2621	13 February 1872	James McLain Mary Pratt	James Julian May Pratt 💍 1872/6443	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	29 27	Christchurch Do	4 Days 4 Days	In the House of Mr. C. Hasen	72/1613		February 13	Rev. C. Hasen

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).