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 455

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Oct - Dec

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

151

5 November 1872

Charles Euson
Edith Leach

Charles Enser
Edith Leach
💍 1872/9374

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

31
26

Christchurch
Do

1 month
3 months

In the Church of St. John

72/1823

8 November 1872

Rev. E. Bailey

No	151
Date of Notice	5 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Euson	Edith Leach
BDM Match (88%)	Charles Enser	Edith Leach
	💍 1872/9374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	1 month	3 months
Marriage Place	In the Church of St. John
Folio	72/1823
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bailey

152

9 November 1872

John Kelly
Sarah Ann Wells

John Kelly
Sarah Ann Wells
💍 1872/6581

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

30
24

Christchurch
Do

5 years
2 years

In the House of Rev. C. Fraser

72/1659

9 November 1872

Rev. C. Fraser

No	152
Date of Notice	9 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Kelly	Sarah Ann Wells
	💍 1872/6581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser
Folio	72/1659
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

153

9 November 1872

John Joseph Kenny
Mary Yaunger

John Joseph Kenny
Mary Fangney
💍 1872/6377

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Servant

35
30

Christchurch
Do

3 Days
6 Days

In the Roman Catholic Chapel

72/1589

11 November 1872

Rev. J. M. Lenyen

No	153
Date of Notice	9 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Kenny	Mary Yaunger
BDM Match (83%)	John Joseph Kenny	Mary Fangney
	💍 1872/6377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Servant
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	3 Days	6 Days
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Chapel
Folio	72/1589
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Lenyen

154

12 November 1872

Edward John Tits Ford
Mary Willis

Edward John Tite Ford
Mary Willis
💍 1872/6290

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

29
23

Apawa
Do

3 years
22 years

In St. Mark's Church

72/1560

30 November 1872

Rev. J. C. Cholmondelay

No	154
Date of Notice	12 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Tits Ford	Mary Willis
BDM Match (98%)	Edward John Tite Ford	Mary Willis
	💍 1872/6290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Apawa	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In St. Mark's Church
Folio	72/1560
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Cholmondelay

155

12 November 1872

Henry Roberts
Mary Ann Foster

Henry Garland
Mary Ann Carter
💍 1873/6838

Henry Donnelly
Mary Anne Butler
💍 1872/4284

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchman
Servant

28
34

Springfield Road
Do

1 year
1 year

In the Church of St. John

1872

Rev. E Bailey

No	155
Date of Notice	12 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Roberts	Mary Ann Foster
BDM Match (63%)	Henry Garland	Mary Ann Carter
	💍 1873/6838
BDM Match (63%)	Henry Donnelly	Mary Anne Butler
	💍 1872/4284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchman	Servant
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Springfield Road	Do
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Church of St. John
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. E Bailey

156

13 November 1872

John Crain
Annie Taylor

John Craik
Annie Taylor
💍 1872/8873

Widower
Spinster

Dairyman
Servant

35
22

Christchurch
Do

3 years
10 years

In the Church of St. Luke

72/2144

28 November 1872

Rev. E. H. Luigard

No	156
Date of Notice	13 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Crain	Annie Taylor
BDM Match (95%)	John Craik	Annie Taylor
	💍 1872/8873
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Servant
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of St. Luke
Folio	72/2144
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Luigard

157

16 November 1872

Laning Coates
Minnie Ellis Brow

Laning Coates
Minna Ellis Row
💍 1872/6269

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

33
25

Christchurch
Ayreton

1 year
13 years

In the Ayreton Schoolroom Ayreton

72/1553

16 November 1872

Rev. Dr. Harper

No	157
Date of Notice	16 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laning Coates	Minnie Ellis Brow
BDM Match (88%)	Laning Coates	Minna Ellis Row
	💍 1872/6269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ayreton
Length of Residence	1 year	13 years
Marriage Place	In the Ayreton Schoolroom Ayreton
Folio	72/1553
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Harper

158

18 November 1872

Henry Revell
Christina Taylor

Henry Powell
Christina Taylor
💍 1872/6587

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
21

Christchurch
Do

1 month
1 week

In the House of Rev. C Fraser

72/1661

18 November 1872

Rev. C. Fraser

No	158
Date of Notice	18 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Revell	Christina Taylor
BDM Match (88%)	Henry Powell	Christina Taylor
	💍 1872/6587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	1 month	1 week
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C Fraser
Folio	72/1661
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

159

19 November 1872

Samuel Lemon
Martha Crunce

Samuel Lemon
Martha Camac
💍 1872/6590

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

30
27

Lecton
Christchurch

9 years
6 years

In the House Ellesmere of Rev. C. Fraser

72/1662

29 November 1872

Rev. C. Fraser

No	159
Date of Notice	19 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Lemon	Martha Crunce
BDM Match (85%)	Samuel Lemon	Martha Camac
	💍 1872/6590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Lecton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the House Ellesmere of Rev. C. Fraser
Folio	72/1662
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

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 1903. 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).