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 576

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
3774	6 August 1875	James Johnston Hewrietta Milne	James Johnston Henrietta Milne 💍 1875/2805	Bachelor Spinster	Trysalter	27 22	Addington Addington	6 years 3 months	In the house of Mr. Milne	75/3041	6 August 1875	Rev. E. Fraser
3775	7 August 1875	James Now Christian Elizabeth Wilson	James Frost Christina Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1875/1965	Widower Spinster	Farmer Milliner	46 31	Riccarton Christchurch	23 years in St. Michael Church 7 months Christchurch	St. Michael Church	75/2046	7 August 1875	Rev. H. J. Edwards
3776	9 August 1875	Robert Dawson Martha Sarah Turner	Robert Dawson Martha Sarah Turnor 💍 1875/1955	Bachelor Spinster	Dealer	31 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks in the Congregational Church 8 months Christchurch	In the Congregational Church	75/2042	9 August 1875	Rev. J. W. Habens, Indep.
3777	9 August 1875	Amos Eyes Maria Sterne	Amos Lyes Maria Stearn 💍 1875/1726	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 22	Christchurch Hillsborough	2 years in the Opawa Church 2 years Church	In the Opawa Church	75/1494	9 August 1875	Rev. G. J. Cholmondeley
3778	9 August 1875	William Lidyman Henrietta Grimshaw	William Tidyman Henrietta Grimshaw 💍 1875/2084	Widower Spinster	Tinsmith Servant	44 31	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year in St. Luke's Church 1 year Christchurch	In St. Luke's Church	75/2088	9 August 1875	Rev. S. A. Lingard
3779	10 August 1875	Lionel Brumman Maria Messeut	Lionel Downman Benjamin Maria Messent 💍 1875/1712	Bachelor Widow	Detective Hotel Keeper	29 29	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year in the house of Mrs. Berry 3 days Ferry Road, Riccarton	In the house of Mrs. Berry, Ferry Road, Riccarton	75/1840	10 August 1875	Rev. I. Berry
3780	10 August 1875	John Lumley Devina Duff	John Lumley Manning Devina Duff 💍 1875/1723	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Servant	30 22	Addington Addington	1 year in the Addington Church 2 months Church	In the Addington Church	75/1491	10 August 1875	Very Revd. Dean Jacobs
3781	11 August 1875	John Marshall Matilda Grimes	John Marshall Matilda Grimes 💍 1875/1732	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 32	Springston Springston	9 years in the Springston Church 1 year Church	In the Springston Church	75/187	11 August 1875	Revd. H. Hocker
3782	12 August 1875	George Skeen Higham Mary Ann Claridge	George Skeen Higham Mary Ann Claridge 💍 1875/1640	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	Papanni Papanni	15 years in the Harewood Road Church 15 years Church	In the Harewood Road Church	75/1818	12 August 1875	Revd. F. G. Brittan
3783	13 August 1875	Peter Chick Sarah Browning Hill	Peter Chick Sarah Browning Hill 💍 1875/1850	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	27 24	Fendal Town Fendal Town	2 years in the Riccarton Church 2 years Church	In the Riccarton Church	75/1879	13 August 1875	Revd. F. A. Hare
3784	14 August 1875	James Long Emma Peppuls	James Long Emma Pepperell 💍 1875/1859	Widower Widow	Station Master	49 47	Templeton Christchurch	9 months in the house of Mrs. Peppuls 10 years Peterborough Street	In the house of Mrs. Peppuls	75/1887	14 August 1875	Rev. B. D. Westbrook

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).