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 652

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
4313	14 November 1876	Edward Hampton Eliza Jane McGuiness	Edward Hampton Eliza Jane McGuiness 💍 1876/2943	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 18 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	76/2942		14 November 1876	Rev. C. Fraser, H.C.
4314	15 November 1876	George Thomas White Elizabeth Hartnell	George Thomas White Elizabeth Hartnell 💍 1876/2900	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	28 26	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 3 weeks	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch	76/2998		15 November 1876	Rev. J. P. Chareyre, R.C.
4315	18 November 1876	George Salter Williams Harriet Amelia Golder	George Salter Williams Harriette Amelia Gonlden 💍 1876/2911	Bachelor Spinster	Porter Servant	37 30	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 10 years	In St Lukes Church	76/2970		18 November 1876	Rev. E. A. Lingard, CofE
4316	18 November 1876	Alfred Gaine Watson Emily Blackler	Alfred Gaine Watson Emily Blackler 💍 1876/2912	Widower Spinster	Runner	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	19 months 1 year	Christ Church Christchurch	76/2984		18 November 1876	Rev. E. A. Lingard, CofE
4317	20 November 1876	Charles Watt Elizabeth Alice Annie Matthews	Charles Watt Elizabeth Alice Anna Matthews 💍 1876/2944	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 2 years	In the house of A. W. Matthews	76/2943	Sarah Elizabeth Matthews, mother	20 November 1876	Rev. C. Fraser, H.C.
4318	21 November 1876	James Morrison Matthews Susan Ellis	James Morriss Jenkins Susan Ellis 💍 1876/2890	Bachelor Widow	Bacon Curer	51 38	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 5 years	In St Lukes Church	76/2989		21 November 1876	Rev. E. A. Lingard, CofE
4319	25 November 1876	John Stewart Christina Wynberg	John Stewart Christina Urquhart 💍 1876/2947	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer Servant	36 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 8 years	In the house of Mr. Robinson Taylor	76/2946		25 November 1876	Rev. C. Fraser, H.C.
4320	27 November 1876	William Parish Rebecca Sparks	William Parish Rebecca Eliza Sparkes 💍 1876/2629	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 22	Springston Ferry Road	20 years 7 years	In the Ferry Road Church	76/2994		27 November 1876	Rev. S. J. [illegible], Wesleyan
4321	27 November 1876	Joseph Shaw Sheppard Maria Alice Hadfield	Joseph Oram Sheppard Maria Alice Hadfield 💍 1876/2611	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	27 19	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 14 years	Wesleyan Church Christchurch	76/3131	Hadfield, Father	27 November 1876	Rev. S. [illegible]
4322	28 November 1876	James Peebles Isabella Harris	James Peebles Isabella Harris 💍 1876/2945	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 19	Christchurch St Albans	3 days 10 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	76/2944		28 November 1876	Rev. C. Fraser, H.C.
4323	28 November 1876	Enoch Hamilton Sarah Jane Trevitt	Enoch Hamilton Sarah Jane Trevitt 💍 1876/2889	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 19	New Brighton New Brighton	12 years 8 years	In St Lukes Church	76/2988	Jane Baile, mother	28 November 1876	Rev. E. A. Lingard, CofE

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).