Intentions to Marry, 1874

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840386, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 564

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Jan - Mar

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
3125	February 1874	John Kerr Secima Cresswell	John Kerr Jemima Cresswell 💍 1874/6880	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Housekeeper	27 22	Chrischurch Do	15 months 22 years	In the house of Mr. Cresswell	74/336	February 21 1874	Rev. S. Butler
3126	February 9 1874	Frederick Henry Blick Serah Elizabeth Twyer	James Henry Blick Sarah Elizabeth Moyser 💍 1874/7618	Bachelor Widow	Painter Dressmaker	27 26	Addington Do	6 days 6 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	74/593	February 9 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3127	February 11 1874	Richard Hulderen Mary Ann Hawkin	Richard Mildren Mary Ann Hawkins 💍 1874/11494 Richard Halloran Mary Brown 💍 1874/8674	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 21	Stanmore Road Do	3 years 6 weeks	In the Congregational Chapel	1018	February 11 1874	Rev. W. J. Habens
3128	February 11 1874	James Alexander Isabella [UNCLEAR]	James Alexander Isabella Hay 💍 1874/6847	Bachelor Widow	Clerk	52 42	Chrischurch Do	15 months 15 months	In the house of Mr. Alexander	74/325	February 11 1874	Rev. A. F. Douglas
3129	February 12 1874	William Frederick Barwell Martha Jane Maria Ricey	William Frederick Barnett Martha Jane Maria Ridley 💍 1874/6859	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Greenworker	42 34	Chrischurch Do	2 years 6 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	74/329	February 12 1874	Rev. J. Ecuyen
3130	February 13 1874	Robert Anderson Goodman Barbara Seth	Robert Andrew Goosman Barbara Scott 💍 1874/7621	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	38 30	Chrischurch Do	3 days 3 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	74/594	February 13 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3131	February 16 1874	Martin Burns Nora Rhymer	Martin Burns Honorah Ryan 💍 1874/6862	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	34 26	Chrischurch Do	12 years 7 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	74/330	February 16 1874	Rev. J. Ecuyen
3132	February 16 1874	Jens Petersen Marie Johannes	Jens Pettersen Marie Dorth Johanna Witt 💍 1874/7624	Widower Widow	Labourer	36 33	Burnham Addington	8 weeks 13 weeks	In the Scotch Church	74/595	February 16 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3133	February 16 1874	Thomas [UNCLEAR] Mary Ann Collius	Thomas Townshend Mary Ann Collins 💍 1874/9394	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 24	Lincole Saringston	10 years 5 years	In Burnham Church	74/201	February 16 1874	Rev. J. Stockler
3134	February 17 1874	Thomas Smith Hayward Mary King	Thomas Smith Hayeward Mary King 💍 1874/7627	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Servant	36 26	Chrischurch Do	6 months 4 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	74/596	February 17 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3135	February 18 1874	Hermann Arnst Catherine Hanson	Hermann Arnst Catherine Hansen 💍 1874/7633	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 23	Papauni Papauni	3 weeks 2 weeks	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser Tuam Street	74/598	18 February 1874	Rev. C. Fraser

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).