Intentions to Marry, 1873

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840385, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 4 2024

Page 606

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1873

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
3031	20 October 1873	James Gallagher Mary Swiggan	James Gallagher Mary McSwigan 💍 1873/8515	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 23	Christchurch Do	5 days 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	73/1258	20 October 1873	Rev J. The Ecuyer
3032	21 October 1873	James O'Boyle Mary Ann Clark	James O'Boyle Mary Ann Clarke 💍 1873/8521	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	29 22	Christchurch Do	7 days 5 days	In the Roman Catholic Church, Leeston	73/1260	21 October 1873	Rev J. The Ecuyer
3033	24 October 1873	Maurice Teahan Elizabeth Duncan	Maurice Teahan Elizabeth Morgan 💍 1873/11299	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 24	Christchurch Do	6 weeks	In the Roman Catholic Church	73/2221	24 October 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
3034	28 October 1873	John Gordon Hodge Johanna Josephus Jansen	John Gorgon Hodge Sokana Josephine Jansen 💍 1873/10642	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	34 21	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 14 months	In St. John's Church	73/1985	28 October 1873	Rev. L. A. Lingard
3035	30 October 1873	Daniel Lynch Bridget O'Donnell	Daniel Lynch Bridget O'Donnell 💍 1873/8512	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 23	Christchurch Do	6 days 3 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	73/1257	30 October 1873	Rev. J. The Ecuyer
3036	30 October 1873	William Turley Lee Eliza Wilson	William Henry De La Mare Elisa Wilson 💍 1873/8548	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	21 22	Christchurch Waltham	13 years 12 months	In the Primitive Methodist Chapel	73/2669	30 October 1873	Rev. R. Ward
3038	1 November 1873	Allen Henry Quinton Elizabeth Palmer	Henry Allen Quinton Elizabeth Palmer 💍 1873/10771	Bachelor Spinster	Fruiterer Dressmaker	23 21	Christchurch Do	2 years 1 month	St. Michael's Church	73/2031	1 November 1873	Rev. H. J. Edwards
3039	15 November 1873	Charles Hood Williams Elizabeth Allard	Charles Hood Williams Elizabeth Allard 💍 1873/10720	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	30 24	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 12 years	In the Church of St. Michael	73/2012	15 November 1873	Rev. H. J. Edwards
3040	3 November 1873	Andrew Robertson Ellen Turricol	Andrew Robertson Helen McNicol 💍 1873/11305	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	28 25	Christchurch Do	4 days 4 days	Dean of Ravenna	73/2223	3 November 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
3041	3 November 1873	James Struthers Williams May Buchanan	James Struthers Williams May Buchanan 💍 1873/11308	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister	25 21	Christchurch Do	22 years 3 days	In the Royal Hotel	73/2224	3 November 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
3042	3 November 1873	Edgar Barringer Emma Brown	Edgar Barringer Emma Brown 💍 1873/10930 Thomas Pudney Emma Brown 💍 1873/10435	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	25 24	Christchurch Do	3 days 3 days	In St. Lukes Church, Governors Bay	73/2090	3 November 1873	Rev. L. 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).