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 595

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
2943	3 June 1873	William Mayze Sarah Eliza Green	William Mayne Sarah Eliza Green 💍 1873/6925	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker Bootcloser	23 22	Christchurch Waltham	1 year 8 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	73/721		3 June 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2944	9 June 1873	James Rivers Sophia Moodcock	James Niven Sophia Woodcock 💍 1873/6820	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Printer	32 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 8 years	St. Luke Church	73/083		9 June 1873	Rev. E. A. Lingard
2945	10 June 1873	James Francis McCartell Kate Allen	James Francis McCardell Kate Allen 💍 1873/6931	Bachelor Spinster	Draughtsman	49 38	Christ Church Do	15 years 10 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	73/223		10 June 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2946	11 June 1873	Thomas Robinson Emily Gertrude Marchant	Thomas Robinson Emily Gertrude Marchant 💍 1873/6940	Bachelor Spinster	Barkeeper Milliner	36 27	Christchurch Luan Street	2 months 2 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	73/226		12 June 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2948	14 June 1873	George Dean Catherine Veal	George Dean Catherine Veal 💍 1873/10753	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	26 21	Christchurch Do	4 days 4 days	St. Michaels Church Christchurch	73/2024		14 June 1873	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
2949	16 June 1873	George William Joblin Sarah Moira	George Willm Joblin Sarah Moira 💍 1873/6988	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker Servant	25 26	Hillsborough Christchurch	6 years 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	73/244		16 June 1873	Rev. J. H. Ecuyer
2950	17 June 1873	William M'Laren Lorinah Sellars	William McLaren Lovinah Sellars 💍 1873/6937	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	28 20	Christchurch Addington	2 weeks 3 weeks	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	73/225	Nathaniel Sellars, Father	17 June 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2955	19 June 1873	Edwin Rundle Elizabeth Ann Buller	Edwin Rundle Elizabeth Ann Butler 💍 1873/10747	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	28 21	Do Christchurch	6 months 1 month	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	73/227		19 June 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
2956	23 June 1873	Joseph Rowley Mary Jane Monk	Joseph Rowley Mary Jane Monk 💍 1873/6943	Widower Spinster	Clerk	24 18	Christchurch Papanui	14 years 4 years	In the house of Rev. E. A. Lingard	73/415		24 June 1873	Rev. E. A. Lingard
2958	24 June 1873	Charles Matter Sharp Sarah Watts	Charles Walter Sharp Sarah Watts 💍 1873/6037	Widower Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	46 41	Papauni St Albans	4 years 3 years	In the house of Rev. M. Baxter	73/228		24 June 1873	Rev. M. Baxter
2959	25 June 1873	William Willyatt Mary Joyce	William Ullyate Mary Joyce 💍 1873/10750	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	30 27	Christchurch Do	3 days 3 days	St. Michaels Church	73/2023		25 June 1873	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs

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).