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 582

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
3839	14 October 1875	John Favell Kingdom Mary Ann O'Brien	John Kingdon Margaret O'Brien 💍 1875/2886	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	26 18	Templeton Christchurch	2 years 2 weeks	In the Scotch Church	75/3139	there is no authority	14 October 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3840	14 October 1875	John Hesford Mary Elizabeth Worrall	John Hesford Mary Elizabeth Worgan 💍 1875/2399	Bachelor Spinster	Actor	28 19	Christchurch Christchurch	2 months 10 months	In the Merivale Church	75/2335	Father	14 October 1875	Rev. F. Knowles
3841	14 October 1875	Robert William Foley Alice Sarah Ashton	Robert William Folsey Alice Sarah Ashton 💍 1875/2516	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 18	Addington Addington	6 months 6 years	In the Church	75/2683	John Ashton Father	14 October 1875	Rev. H. S. Edwards
3842	15 October 1875	Alexander Johnston Beatrice Wood	Alexander Johnston Beatrice Wood 💍 1875/3027	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 19 years	In the house of Mr. Woods	75/3140	Father	15 October 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3843	15 October 1875	Robert Hay Sarah Caroline Charles	Robert Day Sarah Caroline Charles 💍 1875/2343	Widower Spinster	Mariner	45 43	Sumner Christchurch	15 years 15 years	In St. Michael's Church, Sumner	75/2450	Thomas	15 October 1875	Rev. H. J. Edwards
3844	16 October 1875	Robert Henshaw Martha Barnes	Robert Henshaw Martha Barnes 💍 1875/2958	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 18	Papanni Papanni	9 years 16 years	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser	75/3138	Barnes Father	16 October 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3845	18 October 1875	George William Hullner Maria M. Donald McKenzie	George William Millner Maria McDonald McKenzie 💍 1875/2463	Widower Spinster	Painter Governess	33 31	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Roman Catholic Church	75/2651	J. Mc. Cummings	18 October 1875	Rev. J. D. Charezne
3846	18 October 1875	Frank Gostay Annie Smyth	Frank Gortage Annie Smyth 💍 1875/3044	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter Servant	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	75/3142		18 October 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3847	19 October 1875	Thomas O'Brien Mary McKay	Thomas O'Brien Mary MacKay 💍 1875/3045	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	75/3143		19 October 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3848	20 October 1875	Joseph Henry Townsend Harriet Cox	Joseph Henry Townend Harriet Cox 💍 1875/3187	Bachelor Spinster	Medical Practitioner	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 months 18 months	In the Church	75/3015		20 October 1875	Rev. F. A. Story
3849	21 October 1875	James Wallace Clara Lavinia Bowers	James Wallace Clara Lavinia Bowers 💍 1875/2725	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel-Keeper	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 5 days	In the Church of St. Luke	75/3004		21 October 1875	Rev. E. A. Lingard

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).