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 564

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
3652	29 April 1875	Charles Wright Jane Harrison	Charles Weight June Harrison 💍 1875/1156	Bachelor Spinster	Shopman Servant	37 26	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 9 years	In the house of Mr. Harrison	75/1005		29 April 1875	Rev. J. Buller
3653	29 April 1875	John Reilly Harriet Wadsworth	John Reilly Harriet Wadsworth 💍 1875/1454	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 2 years	In the house of Mr. Wadsworth	75/1402	James Wadsworth, Father	29 April 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3654	29 April 1875	Archibald Morgan Emily Myhre	Archabald Morgan Emily Myhre 💍 1875/1457	Bachelor Widow	Staff Sergeant	45 35	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 6 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	75/1405		29 April 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3655	29 April 1875	John Brice Easton Mary Gibson	John Bruce Easten Taylor May Gibson 💍 1875/1178	Widower Widow	Teacher Teacher	51 40	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 1 year	In St. John's Church	75/1100		29 April 1875	Rev. St. G. C. Watson
3656	29 April 1875	Charles Parker Mary Ellen Troy	Charles Parker Mary Ellen Troy 💍 1875/1455	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Nurse	27 28	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 4 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	75/1403		29 April 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3657	29 April 1875	Frederick Robert Thrower Sarah Ann Hint	Frederick Robert Thrower Sarah Ann Flint 💍 1875/1763	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 13 years	Papanni Road	75/1583	James Hint, Father	29 April 1875	Rev. A. R. Fitchett
3658	30 April 1875	John Cammon Helen Goodison	John Cannon Helen Goodwin 💍 1875/1058	Bachelor Spinster	Book Keeper	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 9 years	In the house of Mrs. Goodison	75/1106		30 April 1875	Rev. J. Berry
3659	4 May 1875	John Milne Eliza Nicholls	John Milne Eliza Nicholls 💍 1875/1257	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	32 27	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 2 years	Congregational Church	75/1321		4 May 1875	Rev. W. S. Habens
3660	4 May 1875	John Halliday Mary Phlieu	John Halliday Mary Phelan 💍 1875/1280	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	34 25	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 10 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	75/1407		4 May 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3661	3 May 1875	Daniel Austin Paulina Stevel		Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Servant	31 28	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 2 1/2 years	In the German Church	75/1864		3 May 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3662	4 May 1875	Charles Henry Turner Annie Shepherd	Charles Henry Turner Annie Shepherd 💍 1875/1256	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	28 18	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 5 years	In the house of Margaret Shepherd	75/1320	Margaret Shepherd, Mother	4 May 1875	Rev. W. S. Habens

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).