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 578

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1875 Registrar J. W. Parkinson

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
3796	31 August 1875	Daniel Callaghan Sarah Ann Stedworthy	Daniel Callaghan Sarah Ann Stidworthy 💍 1875/2744	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Dressmaker	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 months	In the Church of St. John	75/2351	31 August 1875	H. C. Fr. Watson, Coop
3797	1 September 1875	James Watt Julia Flynn	James Watt Julia Flynn 💍 1875/1740	Bachelor Spinster	Constable Dressmaker	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	8 months 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Presbytery	75/1484	1 September 1875	Rev. J. P. Chareype, RC
3798	1 September 1875	Thomas Eversley Selina Meredith Meads	Thomas Tuersley Selina Elizabeth Meade 💍 1875/1966	Widower Widow	Engraver	42 39	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 8 months	In the Church of St. Michael	75/2047	1 September 1875	Coop
3799	2 September 1875	John Foley Ann Corkley	John Foley Anne Coakly 💍 1875/1741	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 21	Christchurch Addington	1 week 1 week	In the Roman Catholic Church, Barry Bay	75/1485	2 September 1875	Rev. J. P. Chareype, RC
3800	3 September 1875	James Mills Mary Gerrard	James Milne Mary Gerrard 💍 1875/2832	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	34 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	75/3085	3 September 1875	Rev. C. Fraser, H.C.
3801	4 September 1875	James Speedy Baylis Alice Smith Allison	James Speedy Baylis Alice Smith Allison 💍 1875/2817	Widower Widow	Civil Service	60 31	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 6 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	75/3047	4 September 1875	Rev. C. Fraser, H.C.
3802	6 September 1875	Daniel Caus Ann Staunton		Widower Widow	Carpenter	52 47	Riccarton Lincoln Road	9 years 8 years	In the house of Mrs. Hammonds	75/3086	6 September 1875	Rev. C. Fraser, H.C.
3803	7 September 1875	Andrew Taylor Elizabeth Graham	Andrew Taylor Elizabeth Graham 💍 1875/2076	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Dressmaker	38 37	Sunnyside Christchurch	10 years 11 years	In the house of Mrs. Graham, Peterboro Street	75/2081	7 September 1875	Rev. A. F. Douglas, H.C.
3804	7 September 1875	John Foyle Ann Cousky		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 days	In the Roman Catholic Church	75/1486	7 September 1875	Rev. J. P. Chareype, RC
3805	8 September 1875	Henry Foster Ann Donnelly	James Henry Fowler Ann Donnelly 💍 1875/1743	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Roman Catholic Church	75/1487	8 September 1875	Rev. J. P. Chareype, RC
3806	8 September 1875	Benjamin Mills Rebecca Walters	Benjamin Jones Rebecca Walters 💍 1875/1619	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Dressmaker	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 9 months	In the house of Mr. Jones, Springfield Road	75/1745	8 September 1875	Rev. R. Mortimer, Bap

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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).