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 592

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
2902	9 April 1873	George Bram Louisa Sophia Badham	George Oram Louisa Sophia Badham 💍 1873/10768	Widower Spinster	Publican Housekeeper	47 46	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 12 years	Church of St. Michael	73/2030		9 April 1873	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2903	10 April 1873	William Harper Mary Round	William Harper Mary Round 💍 1873/6766	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 20	Christchurch Do	15 years 9 years	St. Mathias Church	1004	Elijah Round, Father	10 April 1873	Rev. H.C.M. Watson
2904	12 April 1873	Patrick Marra Elizabeth Horrill	Patrick Marra Elizabeth Horrill 💍 1873/6994	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church	73/444		12 April 1873	Rev. J.M. Scrymgeour
2905	14 April 1873	James Burgess Margaret Finlayson	James Burgess Margaret Finlayson 💍 1873/6412	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	27 24	Porters Pass Christchurch	3 months [UNCLEAR] Madras Street	House of Mrs Robertson	73/544		14 April 1873	Rev. A.F. Douglas
2906	16 April 1873	John Ford Sarah Heaton	John Ford Sarah Heaton 💍 1873/6769	Widower Widow	Cooper	51 54	Christchurch Do	19 years 9 years	Church of St. John	73/665		16 April 1873	Rev. H.C.M. Martin
2908	21 April 1873	William Cartwright Annie Guerin	William Cartwright Annie NR 💍 1873/6910	Widower Spinster	Gardener Servant	36 29	Fendalton Farm Christchurch	3 years 6 months	House of Rev. Chase	73/743		21 April 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2909	21 April 1873	James Henry Foad Dora Collins	James Henry Joad Dora Collins 💍 1873/6772	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	37 28	Christchurch Do	5 weeks 9 months	St. Johns Church	73/666		21 April 1873	Rev. H.C.M. Watson
2911	24 April 1873	George Nelson Catherine Frances Kent	George Nelson Catherine K Kent 💍 1873/6997	Widower Widow	Carter	35 28	Christchurch Do	9 months 3 weeks	Roman Catholic Church	73/745		24 April 1873	Rev. J.M. Scrymgeour
2913	30 April 1873	John Dodd Julia Raine	John Dodd Julia Raine 💍 1873/10762	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	30 24	Christchurch Do	3 months 14 years	St. Michael's Church	73/2028		30 April 1873	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2915	3 May 1873	William Stephens Sarah Brady	William Stephens Sarah Brady 💍 1873/6565	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Cook	28 27	Christchurch [UNCLEAR]	3 days 2 months	Slaughterhouse of W. Fulton	13,596		3 May 1873	Rev. A.F. Douglas
2918	6 May 1873	Godfrey Lichfield Caroline Denny	Godfrey Lichfield Caroline Denny 💍 1873/11170	Bachelor Widow	Groom Servant	51 52	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 2 years	House of Rev. C. Fraser, [UNCLEAR] Durham Street	73/2175		6 May 1873	Rev. C. Fraser

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).