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 594

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
2932	23 May 1873	Octavius Goodin Louisa Boon	Octavius Goodwin Louisa Boon 💍 1873/10708	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 19	Tuahiwi Hills Riccarton	5 years 1 year	St James Chapel	73/2008	Charles Boon, father	23 May 1873	Rev J. Buller
2933	25 May 1873	John Craighead Mary Lenagh	John Craighead Mary Lenagh 💍 1873/6991	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 24	Malvern Christchurch	2 weeks 3 months	The Roman Catholic Church	73/743		19 June 1873	Rev. J. The Ecuyer
2934	24 May 1873	John Fraser Elizabeth Hannah Gethin	John Fraser Elizabeth Hannah Gethin 💍 1873/6031	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Cook	30 25	Courtenay Christchurch	3 years 11 years	the house of W Stevenson Armagh Street	73/413		19 June 1873	Rev. J. A. Worboys
2935	28 May 1873	George Kearney Victoire Lelievre	George Kearney Victoria Leliévre 💍 1873/4581	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 19	Christchurch Do	3 days 3 days	St Johns Church	73/067	Francois Lelievre, Father	28 May 1873	Rev H. C. The Watson
2936	28 May 1873	Henry Allen Elizabeth Davis	Henry William Allen Elizabeth Davies 💍 1873/4748	Bachelor Spinster	Barman Servant	28 26	Christchurch Christchurch	10 months 18 months	In the house of Rev C Yates	73/719		28 May 1873	Rev C. Frase
2937	30 May 1873	Michael Augustine Mahoney Mary O'Conner	Michael Aug Mahony Mary O'Connell 💍 1873/6985	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	28 21	Christchurch Do	12 years 8 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	73/914		12 June 1873	Rev. J. Mr. Eugen
2938	31 May 1873	Joseph Walton Moore Ellen Greenwood	Joseph Walton Moore Ann Ellen Greenwood 💍 1873/6070	Bachelor Spinster	Ropemaker Servant	27 20	Christchurch Do	5 months 12 months	Registrar Office	73/426	There is no person having authority to consent	31 May 1873	The Registrar of marriages Christchurch
2939	4 June 1873	Thomas Greenaway Priscilla Dynes	Thomas Greenaway Priscilla Dynes 💍 1873/6922	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	33 26	Christchurch Do	3 years 8 years	In the house of Rev C. Frase	73/016		4 June 1873	Rev. C. Frase
2940	4 June 1873	Thomas Brough Eliza Le Comte	Thomas Brough Eliza Le'Comte 💍 1873/6817	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 17	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 6 days	St Lukes Church Christchurch	73/682	Akaroa David Le Comte, Father	4 June 1873	Rev E. A Lingard
2941	4 June 1873	William Cockerill Berwick Mary Jane Nether	William Cockerill Beswick Mary Jane Webber 💍 1873/10756	Widower Spinster	Tin chaud	51 43	Christchurch Do	5 days 3 weeks	St Michaels Timaru Church	73/2025		4 June 1873	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2942	5 June 1873	William Finlay Marianne Crawford	William Finlay Mary Ann Crawford 💍 1873/6928	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	30 26	Papauni Christchurch	8 years 6 years	In the house of Rev C. Frase Tuam Street	73/122		5 June 1873	Rev C. Frase

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).