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 570

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
3718	12 June 1875	Ralph Byron Isabella Robertson	Ralph Byron Isabella Robertson 💍 1875/1057	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Servant	43 38	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	In the house of Mrs Westbrook, Peterborough St	75/1055		12 June 1875	Rev. B. J. Westbrook
3719	12 June 1875	Stephen Carson Mary Higgs		Widower Spinster	[illegible] Servant	35 22	Bungalow Bungalow	5 weeks 1 month	In the house of Mr Fraser, Tuam St	75/1424		12 June 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3720	14 June 1875	Robert Aickin Margaret Kerr	Robert Aicken Margaret Knox 💍 1875/1277 Robert Tubman Margaret Kennedy 💍 1875/1091	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	34 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of Mr Fraser, Tuam St	75/1423	There is a special license giving authority	14 June 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3721	15 June 1875	George Reynolds Willis Mary Armstrong	George Reynolds Willis Mary Armstrong 💍 1875/672	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	23 24	Malvern Malvern	9 years 4 years	In the house of Mr Willis, Malvern	75/800		15 June 1875	Rev. J. Gould
3722	15 June 1875	James Drummond Ellen Susannah Clark	James Drummond Ellen Susannah Clarke 💍 1875/1618	Bachelor Spinster	Woodturner Dressmaker	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 2 years	In the house of Mr Clarke, Mathesons Road	75/1444		15 June 1875	Rev. R. Martin
3723	15 June 1875	Francis Innes Margaret Mary Mason Healy	Francis Innes Margaret Mary Mason Healy 💍 1875/1084	Widower Spinster	Brewer	37 21	Waltham Christchurch	12 years 5 days	In the Presbyterian Church, Lichfield St, Nelson	75/1230		15 June 1875	R. A. F. Douglas
3724	16 June 1875	David Braudin Susannah Elizabeth Reynell	David Brandon Susannah Elizabeth Hayward 💍 1875/1051	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter Servant	32 19	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 1 year	In the Church of St John, Christchurch	75/1103	Robert Reynell, Father	16 June 1875	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
3725	16 June 1875	William Barnett Emma Ballinger	William Barnett Emma Ballinger 💍 1875/1260	Bachelor Spinster	Postmaster	30 32	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 2 years	In the Congregational Church, Boys Bay	75/1324		16 June 1875	Rev. W. J. Habens
3726	16 June 1875	Thomas Price Fanny Goell	Thomas Preece Fanny Doell 💍 1875/867 Thomas Bain Fanny Laws 💍 1875/2077	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 22	Riccarton Riccarton	2 years 12 years	In the Church, Riccarton	75/814		16 June 1875	Rev. F. A. Hare
3727	18 June 1875	Francis Innes Margaret Mary Mason Healy	Francis Innes Margaret Mary Mason Healy 💍 1875/1084	Widower Spinster	Brewer	37 21	Waltham Christchurch	4 years 1 week	In the house of Mr Innes, Waltham, Nelson	75/815	This appears to be a 2nd certificate for the same parties.	18 June 1875	R. A. F. Douglas
3728	19 June 1875	Stephen Barrett Jane Wilson	Stephen Barrett Jane Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1875/868	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Servant	28 21	Christchurch Riccarton	1 week 9 months	In Riccarton Church	75/815	Mr [unclear] Brown	19 June 1875	Rev. F. A. Hare C of E

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).