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 600

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
2974	22 July 1873	Thomas Elmsly Margaret Farney	Thomas Emsley Margaret Farney 💍 1873/6967	Widower Widow	Coachbuilder	45 35	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 10 years	St James Chapel, Montreal Street	73/735		July 22 1873	Rev. J. Buller
2976	23 July 1873	Thomas Hulm Jane Wilson	Thomas Houtt Jane Doig nee Wilson 💍 1873/11146	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Servant	42 41	Christchurch Do	4 days 5 months	By the house of Thomas France	73/2/167		July 23 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2977	25 July 1873	John Price Mary Gough	"No marriage"	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman Servant	36 26	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 8 years	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch			July 25 1873	Rev. J. M. Dwyer
2979	26 July 1873	Patrick Mannion Bridget Malone	Patrick Mannion Bridget Mallowny 💍 1873/7015	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	31 21	Springston Christchurch	4 months 5 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	73/757		July 26 1873	Rev. J. M. Dwyer
2980	26 July 1873	Emanuel Rawlings Mary Ann Bates	Emmanuel Rawlings Mary Ann Bates 💍 1873/11149	Widower Spinster	Turner Servant	48 38	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 3 days	Res. C. Fraser	73/2/168		July 26 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2983	31 July 1873	Alexander Johnston Charlotte Maria Boss	Alexander Johnston Charlotte Maria Boggis 💍 1873/11155	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	30 25	Christchurch Do	14 years 10 years	St. Scotch Church	73/2170		July 31 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2984	2 August 1873	John William Piper Mary Swindell	John William Piper Mary Swindell 💍 1873/10915	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 21	Christchurch Do	14 years 9 years	In St Lukes Church	73/2085		August 18 1873	Rev. E. A. Lingard
2985	2 August 1873	James Douds Margaret McConnal	James Douds Margaret McConnal 💍 1873/11158	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street	73/2171		August 2 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2987	5 August 1873	John Edward Bashford Maria Jane Douell	John Edward Bashford Marcia Jane Dorsett 💍 1873/10741	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner Shopwoman	30 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 18 years	In St Michaels Church Christchurch	73/2020	There is no person having authority to consent	August 5 1873	Rev. H. J. Edwards
2989	6 August 1873	Edmund Smith Frances Pentecost	Edmund Smart Frances Pentecost 💍 1873/11161	Widower Widow	Labourer	42 42	Christchurch Do	6 months 2 months	St Crescent	73/2172		August 6 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2991	7 August 1873	Robert Moore Martha Rice	Robert Moore Martha Rix 💍 1873/4784	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Servant	35 22	Christchurch Do	3 years 2 years	Rev. C. Fraser	73/2173		August 7 1873	Rev. C. Fraser

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

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).