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 0647

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
4258	2 October 1876	Samuel Meggitt Elizabeth Pearse	Samuel Higgott Elizabeth Pearce 💍 1876/2238 Samuel Millington Elizabeth White 💍 1876/2822 Samuel Brown Elizabeth Bourke 💍 1876/3163	Bachelor Spinster	Grainer Servant	26 23	Christchurch Riccarton	4 days 7 Years	In the Registry Office	76/2345		2 October 1876	Registrar of Marriages S.L.Parkerson
4259	2 October 1876	Horace Lloyd Faithful Eugenie Frances Blundell	Horace Loyd Faithfull Eugenie Frances Blundell 💍 1876/2543	Bachelor Spinster	Draughtsman	23 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months In St Michaels Church	St Michaels Church	76/2355	William Blundell, Father	2 October 1876	Rev. H.S.S. [illegible]
4260	3 October 1876	Henry Maxwell Innes Louisa Maria Calvert	Henry Manwell Jones Emma Maria Collingwood Calvert 💍 1876/2657	Bachelor Spinster	Importer	24 25	Christchurch Christchurch	14 Years In the house of W. Celywall	In the house of W. Celywall	76/2924		3 October 1876	[illegible]
4261	3 October 1876	Edward Lennox Wallace Elizabeth Robertson Cottrell	Edward Lennox Wallace Elizabeth Robertson Cottrell 💍 1876/3158	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days In the house of Christ's College	Christ's College	76/2933		3 October 1876	Rev. F.A. Hare
4262	3 October 1876	Maurice Charles Kent Sarah Jane Lumbuck	Kennie Charles Kent Sarah Jane Turnbull 💍 1876/2520	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet-maker Servant	24 23	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days In St Michaels Church	St Michaels Church	76/2356		3 October 1876	Rev. H.H.S. Hamilton
4263	5 October 1876	Thomas Stevenson Catherine Shaynon	Thomas Stevenson Catherine Shannon 💍 1876/2775	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 23	Christchurch Christchurch	20 Years In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	76/2923		5 October 1876	Rev. C. Fraser
4264	5 October 1876	Robert John Ratcliff Elizabeth Ellen Potter	Robert John Ratcliff Elizabeth Ellen Potter 💍 1876/2613	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	29 24	Riccarton Riccarton	22 months In Riccarton Church	Riccarton Church	76/2934		5 October 1876	Rev. F.A. Hare
4265	7 October 1876	Henry Summerfield Mary Sharman	Henry Summerfield Winifred Mary Harman 💍 1876/2777	Widower Spinster	Labourer	46 26	Addington Hillsborough	6 months 3 Years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	76/2924		7 October 1876	Rev. C. Fraser
4266	9 October 1876	Thomas Richards Susan Rich	Thomas Richards Susan Rich 💍 1876/2529	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker Servant	25 19	Hillsborough Waltham	5 years In the house of Rev. S. Macfarlane	St Pauls Church	76/2365	Caroline Rich, Mother	9 October 1876	Rev. S. Macfarlane
4267	9 October 1876	Arthur Stewart Faithful Emma Grace Bowen	Arthur Stewart Faithfull Emma Grace Bowern 💍 1876/2658	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years In the house of Mr Bowen	In the house of Mr Bowen	76/2927		9 October 1876	Rev. S. Morley
4268	10 October 1876	Isaac Burdon Elizabeth Kay		Widower Widow	Servant Servant	45 38	Malvern Prebbleton	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser 10 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	76/2933		10 October 1876	Rev. C. Fraser

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).