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 568

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
3696	28 May 1875	George Armistrong Mary Jane Francis	George Armstrong Mary Jane Francis 💍 1875/1052	Bachelor Spinster	Coachpainter Servant	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	15 months 1 year	St. Lukes Church	75/1221		28 May 1875	Rev. E. A. Lingard
3697	29 May 1875	James Barnett Margaret Debnam	James Barnett Margaret Debnam 💍 1875/1259	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	22 21	Christchurch Ferry Road	5 years 1 year	In the house of Mr. Barnett	75/1323		29 May 1875	Rev. W. H. Habens
3698	29 May 1875	William Wellbourn Elizabeth Leach	James Allan Elizabeth Leach 💍 1875/490	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Dressmaker	25 23	York Town West Melton	3 years 4 years	In the house of Mr. Sawle	75/805		29 May 1875	Rev. J. W. Sawle
3699	29 May 1875	William Lordown Helena Foster		Bachelor Spinster	Millerwright Dressmaker	29 27	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 1 month	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	75/1414		29 May 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3700	31 May 1875	Henry Primrose Mary Agnes Flynn	Henry Firmeston Mary Agnes Flynn 💍 1875/1040	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Servant	42 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 1 year	St. Johns Church	75/1102		31 May 1875	Rev. H. H. Watson
3701	31 May 1875	Alexander Brown Elizabeth Whitley	Alexander Brown Elizabeth Whitley 💍 1875/1270	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 6 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	75/1416		31 May 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3702	1 June 1875	Edwin Thomas Augustus Fuller Mary Ann Street	Edwin Thomas Augustus Fuller Mary Ann Hunt 💍 1875/1292	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 5 days	In the house of Mr. Fuller	75/1415		1 June 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3703	2 June 1875	John Coleman Shere Eliza Esther Fowles	John Coleman Shere Eliza Esther Fowles 💍 1875/1050	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	25 25	Christchurch Ashburton	3 days 3 months	St. Lukes Church	75/1121		2 June 1875	Rev. E. A. Lingard
3704	3 June 1875	George Bond Annie Robinson	George Bond Annie Robinson 💍 1875/1043	Bachelor Spinster	Wesleyan Minister	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 6 days	Wesleyan Church	75/1114		3 June 1875	Rev. J. Buller
3705	3 June 1875	John Tod Elizabeth Blair	John Tod Elizabeth Blair 💍 1875/1281	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 23	Lincoln Lincoln	15 years 10 years	In the house of Mr. Blair	75/1406		3 June 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3706	3 June 1875	Edward Henry Wood Sarah Pepper	Edward George Wood Sarah Pepper 💍 1875/1063	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 19	Woolston Christchurch	3 years 19 years	Wesleyan Church	75/1111	George Pepper, Father	3 June 1875	Rev. J. Buller

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).