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 0641

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
4200	8 August 1876	James Chalmers Ann Phillips	James Chapman Ann Phillips 💍 1876/2785 James McPhail Ann Phillips 💍 1876/1488 James Whisker Caroline Phillips 💍 1876/175	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	33 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 15 years	In the house of Rev C. Fraser, Temuka	76/2910		8 August 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4201	8 August 1876	Charles Bowley Eleanor Higgins	Charles Bowley Eleanor Higgins 💍 1876/2515	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman Servant	21 25	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 4 years	In the Church of St. Johns	76/2281		8 August 1876	Rev H. C. M. Watson, CofE
4202	8 August 1876	Frederick Bull Ursula Mary Jackson	Frederick Bull Ursula Mary Jackson 💍 1876/2042	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 20	Malvern Papanui	3 years 20 years	In the Papanui Church	76/2005	James Jackson, Father	8 August 1876	Rev T Brittan
4203	10 August 1876	John Scott Eleanor Hewitson	John Scott Eleanor Hewitt 💍 1876/1898	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	31 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 18 months	In the house of J. R. Innes, Madras Street	76/1967	There is no person having authority to consent	10 August 1876	Rev W. Morton
4204	11 August 1876	John O'Brien Anna Rebecca Nelson	John O'Brien Anna Rebecca Nelson 💍 1876/2179	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	28 22	Wellington Christchurch	3 weeks 13 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington	76/2266		11 August 1876	Rev J. Kearney, RC
4205	12 August 1876	John Hewson Mary Ainge	John Henshaw Mary Ainge 💍 1876/1859	Widower Spinster	Farmer Housekeeper	44 35	Papanui Papanui	10 years 6 months	In the Presbyterian Church	76/1976		12 August 1876	Rev J. Crump, Pres
4206	14 August 1876	Daniel John Kennedy Margaret Kennedy	Daniel John Dannehy Margaret Kennedy 💍 1876/2036	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	29 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 18 months	In the Roman Catholic Church, Rakaia	76/1998		14 August 1876	Rev J. P. Chareyre, RC
4207	14 August 1876	Alfred John Lewis Katherine Frances Colborne Bell		Bachelor Spinster	Organist	48 18	Timaru Christchurch	6 months 18 years	In the Timaru Church	76/12274	Joseph Bell Colborne Bell, Father	14 August 1876	Rev J. Elmslie
4208	15 August 1876	George Kemp Elizabeth Annear	George Kemp Elisabeth Armour 💍 1876/2788	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Housekeeper	37 24	Christchurch Christchurch South	1 month 6 weeks	In the house of Stephen South, Rolleston	76/2913		15 August 1876	Rev C Fraser, Pres
4209	16 August 1876	William Welch Lizzy Pearce	William Hatch Lizzie Pearce 💍 1876/1900	Bachelor Spinster	Pattern Maker Servant	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 weeks 4 years	In the house of S. W. James	76/1968	William Pearce, Father	16 August 1876	Rev W. Morley
4210	17 August 1876	Richard Rowe Mary Stuthridge	Richard Rowe Mary Stuthridge 💍 1876/1844	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	In the house of Dr. Stuthridge, Midwife Road	76/1984	Benjamin Stuthridge, Father	17 August 1876	Rev S. Macfarlane, United

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).