Intentions to Marry, 1876

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840388, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

A few of the pages are missing.

Page 619

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1876

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
3972	10 February 1876	Edwin John Cottrell Catherine Kells	Edwin John Cottrell Catherine Kelso 💍 1876/3144	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Dressmaker	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	14 months 5 years	In the home of Mr. [illegible] Innes Street	76/1533		10 February 1876	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
3973	10 February 1876	Duncan Cumming Margretta Gueldina Harris	Duncan Cumming Margretta Geraldine Morris 💍 1876/673	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 21	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months	St. Johns Church	76/1432		10 February 1876	Rev. H. C. M. Watson, CofE
3974	10 February 1876	Alexander Dunbar Ellen Wilson	Alexander Dunbar Helen Wilson 💍 1876/3145	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	24 19	Christchurch Ferry Road	5 years 17 years	Christchurch	76/1534	Father	10 February 1876	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
3975	11 February 1876	William John Collar Ellen Ferrand		Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Servant	25 21	Christchurch Papanui	3 days 4 months	Church, Papanui	76/138		11 February 1876	Rev. F. G. Brittain, CofE
3976	12 February 1876	Francis Davis Elizabeth Rosina Adela Buston	Francis Lias Davis Elizabeth Rosina Adela Buxton 💍 1876/659	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer	28 19	Christchurch Opawa	5 years 15 years	Church, Opawa	76/419	Thomas Buston, Father	12 February 1876	Rev. S. J. Cholmondeley, CofE
3977	14 February 1876	John Heeman Downings Elizabeth Binskin		Bachelor Spinster	Baker	28 19	Christchurch Avonside	2 years 2 years	Church, Avonside		William Binskin, Father	14 February 1876	Rev. H. Glasson, CofE
3978	15 February 1876	George Mathies Mahlda Jane Meech	George Watkins Matilda Jane Meech 💍 1876/662	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	31 20	Christchurch In the home of Mr. [illegible]	12 years	Registrar's Office	76/422		15 February 1876	Rev. W. J. Habens, Indep
3979	16 February 1876	Thomas Moore Lillias Worrell	Thomas Moore Lillias Worrell 💍 1876/385	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	38 22	Christchurch Highlands Road	4 years 1 year	Christchurch	76/453		16 February 1876	Registrar of Marriages, J W Parkerson
3980	17 February 1876	Frederick William Grant Mary Ann Le Sueur	Frederick William Grant Mary Ann De Quesne 💍 1876/3254	Widower Widow	Billiard Marker	41 41	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 5 months	In the home, Tuam Street	76/1548		17 February 1876	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
3981	17 February 1876	Thomas Hopes Maria Elizabeth Pattle		Bachelor Spinster	Decorator	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch	76/402		17 February 1876	Rev. G. A. Lingard, CofE
3982	21 February 1876	James Gardiner Elizabeth Caroline Brookes	James Gardiner Elizabeth Caroline Cook 💍 1876/408	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Housemaid	25 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days	In the home, Ashburton	76/466	D. W. [illegible]	21 February 1876	Rev. J. Buller, Wes

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).