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 595

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Oct - Dec

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
3409	8 October 1874	John Alfred Smith Amelia King	John Wilford Smith Amelia King 💍 1874/11620	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	29 21	Addington Do	3 years 10 years	In the Wesleyan Church	1961		16 October 1874	Rev. J. Buller
3410	17 October 1874	William Henry Harky Emelia Edwards	William Henry Hartley Amelia Edwards 💍 1874/11674	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	35 26	Rakaia Do	8 months 3 months	In the house of Rev C. Fraser	1981		19 October 1874	Rev C. Fraser
3411	19 October 1874	William Thursby Ellen Elliot	William Humsley Ellen Elliot 💍 1874/12511	Widower Spinster	Engineer	30 21	Christchurch Papauni	11 years 17 years	In the Papauni Church	2273	William Thursby, father	21 October 1874	Rev. J.B.Wetenhall
3412	19 October 1874	John Porter Fanny Britton	John Porter Fanny Britton 💍 1874/13861	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 19	Christchurch Do	4 days 3 years	In the Church Akaroa	2736	James Lopusa, [UNCLEAR] having authority from bride	23 October 1874	Rev. C.A. Luxmore
3413	23 October 1874	John William Baker Louisa Alice Sawson	John Willaim Baker Lavinia Alice Dawson 💍 1874/13390	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	33 18	Christchurch Do	15 years 11 years	St. John's Church	2571	Elizabeth Sawson, mother	4 November 1874	Rev. J.C. The Waitts
3414	20 October 1874	Mills Parker Sorensen Annie Swift	Neils Peiter Sorensen Annie Smith 💍 1874/11623	Bachelor Spinster	Lawyer	24 21	Christchurch Do	1 week 6 months	In the house of Rev J. Buller	1962		23 October 1874	Rev. J. Buller
3415	21 October 1874	Robert James Shanks Ada Emmeline Bailey	Robert James Shanks Ada Emmeline Bailey 💍 1874/11680	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	24 22	Kowai Pass Do	8 months 8 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	1983		21 November 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3416	21 October 1874	James Macdonald Norah Eustace	James McDonald Nora Eustace 💍 1874/11695	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	21 21	Christchurch Do	5 months 7 months	In the house of Rev C. Fraser	1988		4 November 1874	Rev. C. Fraser
3417	21 October 1874	Alfred John Rogers Rachel McKown	Alfred John Rogers Rachel McKeown 💍 1874/11587	Widower Spinster	Accountant	33 23	Christchurch Do	4 days 5 Years	Dr. Michael's Church Sydenham	1950		21 November 1874	Rev. H.S. Edwards
3418	23 October 1874	William Gipson Mary Ann Sears	William Gibson Mary Anne Sayers 💍 1874/11584	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 21	Lincoln Road Addington	5 months 5 months	In St Michael's Church	74/1949		23 October1874	Rev. H. J. Edwards
3419	23 October 1874	William Summer Hamilton Mary Ann Felton	William Simmons Hamilton Mary Ann Felton 💍 1874/11545	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	22 25	Christchurch Do	9 years 21 years	In the house of Mr. Felton	1935		6 November 1874	Rev. R. Thornton

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).