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 654

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
4335	6 December 1876	Alfred Emery Taylor Elizabeth Chidley	Alfred Emery Taylor Elizabeth Chidgey 💍 1876/2612	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 25	Christchurch Caledonian Road	21 Years 1 year	Wesleyan Church	76/11		6 December 1876	Rev S. [illegible]
4336	6 December 1876	Richard Brown Louisa Sarah Morris	Richard Brown Harris Louisa Sarah Morris 💍 1876/2539	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	35 26	Christchurch Christchurch	5 Years 1 Year	Registrar's Office	76/2351		6 December 1876	Registrar of Marriages, WM Parkerson
4337	7 December 1876	Charles Chambers Mary Ann Simpson	Charles Chambers Annie Mary Simpson 💍 1876/2990 George Cooper Mary Ann Simpson 💍 1876/1630	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Years 4 Years	St John's Church	76/3089		7 December 1876	Rev H C M Watson, CofE
4338	8 December 1876	Joseph Townshend Mary Jane Miller	Joseph Townsend Mary Jane Millar 💍 1877/734	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	35 30	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 5 weeks	In the house of Mr Innis	76/650		8 December 1876	Rev W. J. Habens, [illegible]
4339	11 December 1876	Cornelius Charles Dash Elizabeth Keats	Cornelius Charles Dash Elizabeth Kent 💍 1876/2892	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 26	Christchurch Christchurch	6 Years 6 Years	St Lukes Church	76/2991		11 December 1876	Rev E. A. Lingard, CofE
4340	12 December 1876	James Stephens Janet Henderson	James Stephens Janet Henderson 💍 1876/2869	Widower Spinster	Surveyor	41 29	Christchurch Christchurch	1 Year 3 days	In the Church of St. Paul	76/2968		12 December 1876	Rev J. Elmslie, P.C.
4341	13 December 1876	Thomas McGinity Amy Kate Atkinson	Thomas McGinity Amy Kate Atkinson 💍 1876/2653	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	21 17	Christchurch Christchurch	7 Months 7 years	In the House of Rev D. Berry	76/2722	Thomas Atkinson, Father	13 December 1876	Rev J. Berry, Wes
4342	13 December 1876	Edward Coppern Rebecca Jane Harris	Edward Coppen Rebecca Jane Harris 💍 1876/2540	Bachelor Spinster	Trainer Housekeeper	36 26	Riccarton Riccarton	2 Years 2 years	Registrars Office	76/2302		13 December 1876	Registrar of Marriages, WM Parkerson
4343	13 December 1876	Carlo Barachini Elizabeth Kelly	Carlo Baracchi Mary Elizabeth Kelly 💍 1876/2953	Bachelor Widow	Musician	26 39	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 18 years	In the house of Rev C. Fraser	76/2957		13 December 1876	Rev C. Fraser, P.C.
4344	13 December 1876	John Crusebrook Mary Ann Goodman	John Aulsbrook Mary Ann Goodman 💍 1876/2893	Widower Spinster	Miller	41 32	Lincoln Road Lincoln Road, Sunnyside	3 years 2 years	In the Chapel, Lunatic Asylum	76/2992		13 December 1876	Venble Archdeacon Wilson, CofE
4345	14 December 1876	William Robertson Mary Witte	William Robertson Mary Witte 💍 1876/2955	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	28 19	Christchurch Christchurch	10 Years 5 Years	In the house of J. W. Reid	76/2953	Bernhard Witte, Father	14 December 1876	Rev C Fraser, P.C.

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).