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 593

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
2919	8 May 1873	Felix Ward Agnes Mary Pheata	Felix Bernard Ward Agnes Mary Sheath 💍 1873/7000	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	73/146	B. Pheata, Father	8 May 1873	Rev. J. M. Ecuyer
2920	10 May 1873	Francis Libeau Elizabeth Russell	Francis Libeau Elizabeth Fussell 💍 1873/6913	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	27 21	Par Tapu Christchurch	9 years by the hourd 9 years	Par Tapu	73/137		10 May 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2921	12 May 1873	William Brown Jane Porter	William Brown Jane Porter 💍 1873/6064	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	30 42	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrar Office	73/424		12 May 1873	B. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
2922	13 May 1873	Robert Moore Elizabeth Pearson	Robert Moore Elizabeth Pearson 💍 1873/6472	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	In the Presbyterian Church	73/564		13 May 1873	Rev. A. F. Douglas
2923	15 May 1873	Edward Halfield Bran Sarah Fiducia Bray	Edward Hatfield Brown Sarah Fiducia Bray 💍 1873/6814	Bachelor Spinster	Gutterman	27 28	Christchurch 18 months Lichfield St, Christchurch	3 days 18 months	In St Lukes Church	73/681	D. Luke Knowles Thomas	15 May 1873	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
2924	14 May 1873	William Gory Hannah Myall	William Henry Gory Hannah Wyatt 💍 1873/4584	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 years	In St Michaels Church	73/2026		14 May 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2925	14 May 1873	Gerard Gustavus Ducaret de Lapasture Georgiana Mary Loughman	Gerard Gustavus D'Leurat De Lapasture Georgina Mary Loughnan 💍 1873/7006	Widower Spinster	Runholder	35 28	Christchurch Ferry Road, Christchurch	3 weeks 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch	73/747		14 May 1873	Rev. J. M. Ecuyer
2926	14 May 1873	Edward Girand Sarah Creasy	Edward Girand Sarah Creasy 💍 1873/6811	Bachelor Spinster	Master of the Orphanage Matron of the Orphanage	38 35	Lyttelton Christchurch, Lyttelton	3 days 3 years	In St Lukes Church	73/680	E. Q. Lanyard	14 May 1873	Rev. J. M. Ecuyer
2928	19 May 1873	Simon Fraser Mary Stevens	Simon Fraser Mary Stevens 💍 1873/6919	Bachelor Spinster	Saw Fitter Servant	30 21	Christchurch Merivale	4 days 4 months	In the house of Akaroa owner, Merivale	73/418		19 May 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2929	19 May 1873	Joseph Tunling Patience Sheppard	Joseph Morling Patience Sheppard 💍 1873/6067	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 18 months	In the Registrar Office	73/425		19 May 1873	B. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
2930	19 May 1873	Walter Roberts Ellen Reed	Walter Roberts Ellen Reid 💍 1873/10711	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer Servant	23 23	Christchurch Christchurch	10 weeks 8 weeks	In the Wesleyan Church	73/2009		19 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).