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 607

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
3044	4 November 1873	William Keals Annie Hogg	William Keall Annie Hogg 💍 1873/8494	Bachelor Spinster	Wesleyan Minister	35 34	Springston Springston	3 years 3 years	Wesleyan Church Durham Street	73/1249		4 November 1873	Rev. J. Bullen
3045	5 November 1873	Charles Cowaic Rose Jane Leck	Charles Cowan Rose Jane Leck 💍 1873/8542	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant Housekeeper	33 34	Christchurch Christchurch	10 months 10 months	Registrar's Office Christchurch	73/1267		5 November 1873	Registrar of Marriages B Parkenson
3046	10 November 1873	James Wylie Jane Barbara Roude Dow Brownlie	James Wylie Jane Barbara Brownlie 💍 1873/8503	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 26	Riccarton Christchurch	9 months 7 months	In the Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	73/1254		5 November 1873	Registrar of Marriages B Parkenson
3047	10 November 1873	Henry McClelland Eliza Jane Cameron	Henry McClelland Eliza Jane Cameron 💍 1873/11311	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	22 22	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	6 years 1 week	In the house of Rev C Fraser Tuam Street	73/2225		10 November 1873	Rev. C. Fraser
3049	11 November 1873	Edwin Thomas Jeannetta Field	Edwin Thomas Jeannetta Nield 💍 1873/11314	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In the house of Rev C Fraser Tuam Street	73/2226		11 November 1873	Rev. C Fraser
3049	13 November 1873	Andrew Simpson Wilhelmina Chaney	Andrew Simpson Wilhelmina Chaney 💍 1873/4578	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	23 20	Christchurch North Road	4 days 7 years	In St Michael's Church Christchurch	73/2013	William Genge Chaney Father	11 November 1873	Rev. H. J. Edwards
3050	17 November 1873	William Mitchell Sarah Freeman	William Mitchell Sarah Freeman 💍 1873/11317	Bachelor Spinster	Gardner Servant	26 24	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 8 months	In the house of Rev C Fraser Christchurch	73/2227		13 November 1873	Rev. C Fraser
3051	17 November 1873	John Hanley Mary Kelly	John Hanley Mary Kelly 💍 1873/8506	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	30 28	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 3 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch	73/1255		17 November 1873	Rev. J. M. Ecuyer
3052	18 November 1873	Seth Hampton Elizabeth Jane Hill	Seth Hampton Elizabeth Jane Hill 💍 1873/11323	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 21	Cashmere Cashmere	5 months 2 months	In the house of Rev C Fraser Tuam Street	73/2229		18 November 1873	Rev. C Fraser
3054	18 November 1873	Frederick Benham Bridget Mary O'Reilly	Frederick Benham Bridget Mary O'Reilly 💍 1873/10717	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 29	Kowai Pass Christchurch	2 years 2 years	In St Michael's Church Christchurch	73/2011		18 November 1873	Rev. H J Edwards
3055	18 November 1873	Frank Hill Kate Elliot	Frank Hill Kate Elliot 💍 1873/11320	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agnet	24 24	Christchurch Papanui	3 weeks 12 years	In the house of Rev C Fraser Tuam Street	73/2228	18 November 1873		Rev. C Fraser
			Duplicate row

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).