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 604

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
2992	12 August 1873	William Saunders Jeannie Milkie	William Saunders Jennie Wilkie 💍 1873/8476	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	24 24	Avonbank Christchurch	18 months 6 days	Riccarton Church	73/1243		12 August 1873	Rev. C. Bowen
3002	29 August 1873	John Sheehan Alice Doyle	John Sheehan Alice Doyle 💍 1873/7009	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 28	Yai Tapu Do	3 months Do	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	73/1149		29 August 1873	Rev. I. C. Chervier
3004	4 September 1873	Richard James Sarah Powell	Richard James Sarah Powell 💍 1873/6478	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 21	Waltham Do	1 week 8 months	In the house of Lyttelton	73/1566		4 September 1873	Rev. A. F. Douglas
3005	5 September 1873	Hubert Abbott Margaret Maguire	Hubert Abbott Margaret Maguire 💍 1873/8485	Bachelor Spinster	Turner Servant	30 26	Christchurch Do	6 days 5 months	Avonside Church	73/1246		5 September 1873	Rev. G. Collerill
3006	8 September 1873	William John Mcderay Christina Rattray	William John McIlroy Christiana Rattray 💍 1873/11176	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	26 23	Christchurch Avonside	7 years 3 years	In the house of Mr Rattray	73/2177		8 September 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
3007	8 September 1873	James Burtenshaw Pamela Mcrae	James Bartenshaw Pamela McNae 💍 1873/8479	Bachelor Spinster	Sergeant of Police	32 21	Courtenay Do	6 months 10 years	Riccarton Church	73/1244		8 September 1873	Rev. C. Bowen
3009	9 September 1873	Robert William Brownley Anne Whiting	Robert William Bromley Anne Whiting 💍 1873/10732	Bachelor Widow	Butcher Housekeeper	34 33	Addington Do	2 months 2 months	Church	73/2017		9 September 1873	Rev. L. G. Brittan
3011	10 September 1873	Francis Lee Elizabeth Rhind	Francis Lee Elizabeth Rhind 💍 1873/11335	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	36 29	Christchurch Do	10 years 8 years	In the house of Two Rhind	Included next quarter
3012	10 September 1873	Penaluma Williams Charlotte Prisk	John Pensluna Williams Charlotte Prisk 💍 1873/8518	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	30 18	Hellsborough Do	5 years 9 months	Opawa Church	73/1259		10 September 1873	Rev. I. G. Cholmondeley
3019	30 September 1873	William Aley Kate Frow	William Oxley Kate Frow 💍 1873/4636	Bachelor Spinster	Ironfitter Servant	21 19	Christchurch Opawa	8 months 8 years	In the Opawa Church	73/1755	John Frow, Father	30 September 1873	Rev. I. G. Cholmondeley

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).