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 605

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
2997	1 October 1873	Frederick Henry Bowen Berthea Amnel	Fredk Rodney Bowen Bertha Amnel 💍 1873/10645							73/1986	see page 601	15 October 1873	Rev. St. C. Towson
3001	3 October 1873	Charles Walkden Emily Whitfin	Charles Walkden Emily Whiffin 💍 1873/8539							73/1266	see page 601	13 October 1873	Rev. C. Bowen
3017	26 September 1873	John Albert Blank Margaret Bowis	John Albert Blank Margaret Bowis 💍 1873/11182							73/2179		18 October 1873	Rev. A. F. Douglas
3020	3 October 1873	Arthur Ormsby Margaret Ann	Arthur Ormsby Margaret Ann Elizabeth Hunt 💍 1873/10726	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	36 25	Christchurch In the Geraldine District	4 days 3 days	Church, Geraldine	73/2015		3 October 1873	Rev. G. Cotterill
3022	8 September 1873	Walter Codling Ada Atkinson	Walter Codling Ada Atkinson 💍 1873/11179	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	24 25	St Albans Christchurch	13 years 8 years	In the Scotch Church Tuam Street	73/2178		4 October 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
3023	8 September 1873	Edward Trayhen Button Charlotte Jane King	Edward Mayhew Button Charlotte Jane King 💍 1873/10723	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	St Albans Church	73/2014		7 October 1873	Rev. St. J. Edwards
3025	9 September 1873	John Leek Anne Jenkins	John Leek Ann Jenkins 💍 1873/8545	Widower Widow	Labourer Housemaid	45 45	Christchurch In the house of Ayrton, Tw Hawley	3 days 3 months	Christchurch	73/1268		13 October 1873	Rev. R. Ward
3026	13 September 1873	Thomas Groundwater Catherine In Leav	Thomas Groundwater Catherine McLean 💍 1873/7030	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	32 27	Christchurch In the house of Mr Russell, South Town Belt	8 years 4 years	Christchurch	73/2234		13 October 1873	Rev. A. F. Douglas
3027	14 September 1873	Francis Wiggins Sarah Victoria Rockburgh Gardule	Francis Wiggin Sarah Victoria Roxburgh Gardner 💍 1873/8509	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	34 22	Christchurch In the Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	4 years 4 years	Catholic Church, Christchurch	73/1256		5 October 1873	Rev. I. The Ecuper
3028	15 September 1873	Daniel Egan Elizabeth Nicholson	"No Marriage"	Widower Spinster	Contractor Servant	35 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 1 year	In the house of Rev C Fraser Christchurch		No Marriage	15 October 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
3030	18 September 1873	John Diepenbein Martha Ramiska	John Dupenheim Martha Kamiska 💍 1873/11302	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	36 19	Papanui Christchurch	14 years 1 week	Christchurch	73/2222	There is a suspension of the authority to give consent	18 October 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).