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 589

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Jul - Sep

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
3369	5 September 1874	James Leishman Mary Elizabeth Stretton	James Leishman Fenerty Mary Elizabeth Stretton 💍 1874/10882	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	21 23	Christchurch do	3 days do	St Michaels Church	1709		5 September 1874	Rev. H.S. Edwards
3370	5 September 1874	Patrick Commins Mary Slattery	Patrick Commins Mary Slattery 💍 1874/10624	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	26 26	Christchurch do	3 years do	St Patricks Catholic Church	1619		5 September 1874	Rev. J.J. Cherviere
3371	7 September 1874	Matthew Shannon Louisa Mary Corkhill	Matthew Thomson Louisa Mary Corkhill 💍 1874/11407	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 22	Christchurch do	6 days do	Christchurch	1888		7 September 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3372	9 September 1874	George Trusty Caroline Glynn	George O'Malley Catherine Glynn 💍 1874/10627	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Servant	27 24	Walkham Christchurch	7 years do	Catholic Church	1620		9 September 1874	Rev. J.J. Cherviere
3373	9 September 1874	Frederick Murgatroyd Sarah McLeverey	Frederick Marigold Sarah McSeveney 💍 1874/11419	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 17	Christchurch do	7 years 8 months	Christchurch	1892	John Mc Leverey, father	9 September 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3374	11 September 1874	Jonathan Ink Mary Ann Shepherd	Jonathon Hill Mary Ann Shepherd 💍 1874/11008	Bachelor Spinster	Clergyman	33 37	Christchurch West Melton	3 days 11 years	In the house of Mr Shepherd	1751		11 September 1874	Rev. R. Taunton
3375	14 September 1874	Arthur Upholm Ellen Welch	Arthur Upjohn Ellen Welsh 💍 1874/10420	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	32 22	Christchurch do	1 year 1 year	authorised by application	1549		28 September 1874	Rev. J. Bullen
3376	14 September 1874	Hans Hinrich Gratjens Louise Margaretha Martens	Hans Henrich Gatjens Louise Margaretha Martens 💍 1874/10702	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper Servant	36 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 10 weeks	In the house of Rev L P l. Lohr Christchurch	74/1645		14 September 1874	Rev. L.P.L. Lohr
3377	16 September 1874	Francis Belshaw Caroline Coombs	Francis Belsham Caroline Coombs 💍 1874/11665	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Servant	21 23	Walkham Christchurch	5 weeks 4 months	In the house	1779		16 September 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3378	17 September 1874	Thomas Pearle Alice Mary Payne	Thomas Peart Alice Mary Payne 💍 1874/11608	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	28 17	Christchurch do	1 year 1 year	Wesleyan Church	1957		17 September 1874	Rev. J. Bullen
3379	18 September 1874	Walter Henry Lower Rebecca Jane Collins	Walter Henry Lowell Rebecca Jane Collins 💍 1874/11410	Bachelor Spinster	Barman Servant	24 22	Graham Street Christchurch	4 months 1 year	In the house	1889		18 September 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).