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 579

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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
3271	12 June 1874	Frederick John Throsby Anna Belinda Reardon	Frederick John Throsby Anna Belinda Reardon 💍 1874/11191	Bachelor Spinster	Steward Governess	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	12 days 12 days	In the house of C. Kroger	1812		12 June 1874	Rev. C. Kroger
3272	15 June 1874	Elias Giraud Susan Robin	Elias Gandin Susan Robin 💍 1874/8488	Widower Widow	Surveyor	50 35	Christchurch Do	2 months 2 months	In the Wesleyan Church Durham Street	74/694		15 June 1874	Rev. J. Buller
3273	17 June 1874	Thomas Archibald Brown Gertrude Annie Watson	Thomas William Newman Gertrude Annie Hodson 💍 1874/11311	Bachelor Spinster	Servant	23 24	St. Albans Christchurch	3 years 3 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	1855		18 June 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3274	17 June 1874	George William Geddes Emma Jelfs	George William Geddes Emma Scott 💍 1874/7915	Bachelor Spinster	Theatrical manager	31 18	Christchurch Christchurch	9 months 12 years	In the Registry Office Christchurch	74/694	Audelia Jelfs, mother	19 June 1874	J. E. FitzGerald
3275	17 June 1874	Forster William Baldwin Margaret Jane Jefferson	Forster William Badham Margaret Jane Sefton 💍 1874/11314	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 32	Christchurch Do	3 days 3 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser Leeston	1856		18 June 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3276	18 June 1874	Peter Creaghe Annie Twoomey	Peter Creagh Annie Morgan 💍 1874/10606	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 19	Christchurch Do	9 years 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch	161/3	[UNCLEAR] is of age, having authority from her brother	18 June 1874	Rev. J. The Heyer
3277	23 June 1874	Walter John Williams Jane King	Walter John Williams Jane King 💍 1874/9658	Bachelor Spinster	Builder Servant	35 24	Christchurch Do	2 years 16 years	Church		Included in next Quarter's Return in full	24 June 1874	Rev. H. B. Breslin
3278	25 June 1874	William Lefford Ann Clegg	William Setford Ann Clegg 💍 1874/11317	Bachelor Widow	Painter	35 40	Christ Church Addington	12 years 10 years	In the house of Mrs Clegg	1857		25 June 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3279	25 June 1874	John Michael Pugh Elizabeth McKay	John MacKay Elizabeth Moyle 💍 1874/8878	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	26 22	Riccarton Riccarton	1 year 3 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser Tuam Street	1858		25 June 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3280	26 June 1874	William Thomas Cutts Charlotte Whicker	William Thomas Nuttall Henrietta Charlotte Whicker 💍 1874/5809	Bachelor Spinster	Tin Smith Servant	22 22	Merivale Do	2 years 1 month	In the Wesleyan Chapel St. Albans	74/136	Audelia Jelfs, mother	26 June 1874	Rev. A. R. Fitchett
3281	29 June 1874	James Bush Eliza Wills	James Bush Eliza Wills 💍 1874/11509	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Servant	27 28	Christchurch Do	10 years 6 years	In the house of Rev. C. Bush Christchurch	1933		29 June 1874	Rev. W. J. Habens

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).