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 556

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
3568	24 February 1875	Thomas Hempton Martha Levin	Thomas Hampton Martha Leatham 💍 1875/260 Thomas Cox Martha Green 💍 1875/406 Thomas Harford Martha Wells 💍 1875/2969	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	33 35	West Melton Headnos House	1 year In House	Templeton Church	75/292		11 March 1875	Rev. H. R. Paige
3569	24 February 1875	Robert John Harding Elizabeth Hellyer	Robert John Harding Elizabeth Hellyer 💍 1875/613	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 22	Halswell Halswell	In Halswell 3 months	Church	75/151		10 March 1875	Rev. C. Bowen
3570	24 February 1875	Mareslieus Ramon Bell		Bachelor Widow	Seaman Servant	28 29	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Michaels Church	75/236		24 February 1875	Rev. St. G. Ediar
3571	27 February 1875	John Campbell Jane Turner	John Campbell Jane Gurner 💍 1875/294 John Campbell Jane Murdock 💍 1875/1276 John Campbell Jessie Falconer 💍 1876/1137	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Dressmaker	31 19	Waltham Waltham	10 months 4 years in the house	Mr. Adam's	75/305	Jane is a minor, having authority to marry	27 February 1875	Rev. J. Aldred
3572	27 February 1875	John Hale Eleanor Gooch	John Whall Eleanor Gooch 💍 1875/464	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	29 19	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years in the Province 19 years in Albans	Chapel	75/506	John Gooch, Father	27 February 1875	Rev. A. R. Fitchett
3573	1 March 1875	Luis Thompson Margaret Ballard	Luis Thompson Margaret Ballard 💍 1875/727	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 18	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days in the house 4 days	Residence of R. F. Douglas	75/614	Catherine Douglas, Mother	1 March 1875	Rev. A. F. Douglas
3574	1 March 1875	Francis Henry Plaster Annie Sullivan	Francis Embray Plaster Annie Sullivan 💍 1875/1309	Bachelor Widow	Ship Carpenter Laundress	26 28	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years in the Province 5 years Leam Street	Residence of C. Fraser	75/349		1 March 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3575	1 March 1875	Edward Henry Bank Amelia Seath	Edward Henry Banks Amelia Scott 💍 1875/2993	Widower Widow	Brickmaker	47 39	Heathcote Valley Christchurch	3 years in the 12 years Christchurch	Registrars Office	75/424		1 March 1875	Registrar of Marriages
3576	2 March 1875	Frank Hempton Anna Alpart	Frank Hampton Anna Alport 💍 1875/1172	Widower Spinster	Farmer	30 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 24 years Christchurch	St. Johns Church, Akaroa	75/1095		2 March 1875	Rev. St. C. In Watson
3577	3 March 1875	William Sourvan Mary Paper	William Donovan Mary Page 💍 1875/1310 William Egan Mary Dwyer 💍 1875/2955 William Basckke Mary Mayer 💍 1875/747 William Shaw Mary Cocker 💍 1875/428 William Whitelaw Mary Lawler 💍 1875/188 William Buckeridge Mary Walker 💍 1875/612 William Wilson Mary Skeen 💍 1875/2356	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Servant	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months Leam Street 6 months in the house	Residence of C. Fraser	75/358		3 March 1875	Rev. C. Fraser
3578	4 March 1875	Benjamin Lowry Mary Jewey	Benjamin Lowry May Dewey 💍 1875/1175	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner Servant	29 26	Woolston Christchurch	5 years in St. Johns 2 years Christchurch	St. Johns Church	75/1094		4 March 1875	Rev. St. C. In Watson

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).