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 625

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
4024	1 April 1876	Beadon Davey Elizabeth Ann Grainger		Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger Machinist	21 19	Templeton Christchurch	9 months 5 months	In the Templeton Church		William Grainger, Father	1 April 1876	Rev R. S. Jackson, CofE
4025	4 April 1876	William Whitten Hannah Chaffey	William Whitten Hannah Cheffings 💍 1876/1368	Bachelor Widow	Carrier	48 45	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In St. Michaels Church	76/1338		4 April 1876	Rev H. J. Edwards, CofE
4026	4 April 1876	Samuel Henry Howes Emma Piper	Samuel Henry Thomas Emma Piper 💍 1876/897	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman Dressmaker	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 22 years	In the House of Rev A. R. Fitchett	76/971		4 April 1876	Rev A. R. Fitchett, Pres
4027	5 April 1876	Thomas Earls Cassandra Bather	Thomas Eails Cassandra Barker 💍 1876/1550	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 28	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 18 months	In St. John's Church	76/1466		5 April 1876	Rev H. C. M. Watson, CofE
4028	7 April 1876	George Mc[illegible] Clatchie Maggie Dunbar	George McClatchie Maggie Dunbar 💍 1876/3261	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	31 19	Christchurch Lincoln Road	3 years 6 years	In the House of W. Dunbar	76/1555	Alexander Dunbar, Father	7 April 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4029	7 April 1876	Capel Daines Eveline Willett Leach	Capel Baines Eveline Willett Leach 💍 1876/913	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	41 26	Riccarton Riccarton	3 months 3 months	In Riccarton Church	76/936		7 April 1876	Rev F. Hare, CofE
4030	8 April 1876	William Essery Mary Smith	William Essery Mary Smith 💍 1876/1009 William Kearns Mary Smith 💍 1876/489 William Jarves Sarah Smith 💍 1876/2148	Bachelor Widow	Contractor	41 34	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrar's Office	76/954		8 April 1876	Registrar of Marriages, W. Parkerson
4031	8 April 1876	Frederick Bacon Mills Mary Thomson	Frederick Bacon Mills Mary Thompson 💍 1876/3260	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	35 25	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 5 months	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	76/1557		8 April 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4032	8 April 1876	William George Kitchener Frances Allen	William George Kitchener Francis Allen 💍 1876/1551	Widower Spinster	Gardener Servant	30 25	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Christchurch Church	76/1469		8 April 1876	Rev H. C. M. Watson, CofE
4033	10 April 1876	George Hewson Margaret Jane Macklan	George McPherson Margaret Jane Lapslie 💍 1877/548 George Haines Margaret Jane Davis 💍 1876/2376 George Stevenson Marshall Margaret Jane Macleam 💍 1876/1008	Bachelor Spinster	Builder	29 29	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 4 years	In the United Methodist Chapel	76/956		10 April 1876	Rev S. Macfarlane, United
4034	11 April 1876	Edward Evans Jane Jones	Edward Evans Jane Jones 💍 1876/912	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	30 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 years	In the Wesleyan Chapel	76/935		11 April 1876	Rev J. Berry, Pres

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).