Intentions to Marry, 1875

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840387, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

This register is quite fragile and some of the pages are damaged or even missing.

Page 584

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1875

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
3861	1 November 1875	Samuel Pyken Philadelphia Country	Samuel Pykett Philadelphia Courtney 💍 1875/3049	Bachelor Widow	Steamer Nurse	29 36	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 5 years	In the House of Mr Lefford	75/3147		1 November 1875	Rev C. Fraser
3862	3 November 1875	Walter Pearl Rosa Piper	Walter Pearl Rosa Piper 💍 1875/3050	Bachelor Spinster	Horsebreaker Servant	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 14 months	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	75/3148		3 November 1875	Rev C. Fraser
3863	4 November 1875	George Summers Emily Gay	George Summers Emily Gay 💍 1875/3029	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter Servant	17 24	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 2 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	75/3150		4 November 1875	Rev C. Fraser
3864	5 November 1875	Henry Glorstein Gefine Wagate Albrecht	Hermann Henry Gloistein Gesinne Margaretha Albrecht 💍 1875/2388	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Cook	32 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 12 months	In the German Church	75/2346		5 November 1875	Rev L. Lohr
3865	5 November 1875	Henry Westbrook Isabella Seager	William Henry Westbrooke Isabella Seager 💍 1875/2531	Bachelor Spinster	Coachpainter	23 18	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 5 years	In the Methodist Church	75/2742	Robert Seager, Father	5 November 1875	Rev B. I. Westbrook
3866	6 November 1875	Thomas Staywood Mary Jane Parker	John Hayward Mary Jane Parker 💍 1875/2762	Bachelor Spinster	Policeman	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 13 years	In the House of Mr Parker	75/2353		6 November 1875	Rev J. Buller
3867	8 November 1875	Frederick Charles Gerard Ellen Elizabeth Seager	Frederick Charles Gerard Elizabeth Leaven 💍 1875/2735	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	15 months 15 months	In St. John's Church	75/3013		8 November 1875	Rev H. C. M. Watson
3868	10 November 1875	Alexander Harvey Peephania Corbet	Alexander Harvey Euphemia Corbet 💍 1875/3031	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 29	Christchurch Riccarton	3 days 2 years	In the House Ashburton of Rev C. Fraser	75/3152		10 November 1875	Rev C. Fraser
3869	12 November 1875	Henry Clayton Emma Amelia Hester	James Henry Clayton Emma Amelia Hester 💍 1875/2377	Widower Spinster	Accountant	25 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 months	In the Merivale Church	75/2336	There is no person having authority to consent	12 November 1875	Rev F. Knowled
3870	18 November 1875	James Williams Emma Lea	James Williams Emma Lea 💍 1875/2383	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	35 29	Christchurch Christchurch	15 months 3 days	In the House of Mr Percy	75/2344		18 November 1875	Rev R. Martin
3871	13 November 1875	Henry Inwer Gretton Julia Kennard	Henry James Gretton Julia Kennard 💍 1875/2378	Bachelor Spinster	Reader	25 18	St. Albans St. Albans	7 years 16 years	In the Merivale Church	75/2334	Ellen Williams, Mother	13 November 1875	Rev F. Knowled

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).