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 0648

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
4269	11 October 1876	Richard Ashworth Emma Cleaver	Richard Ashworth Emma Cleaver 💍 1876/2957	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer [illegible]	24 21	Papanui Papanui	3 months 9 years	In the house	76/2932		11 October 1876	Rev C. Fraser, CofE
4270	11 October 1876	James McCullough Sarah Rutherford	James McCullough Sarah Rutherford 💍 1876/2778	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 25	Addington Addington	2 years 2 weeks	In the Scotch Church	76/2925		11 October 1876	Rev C. Fraser, CofE
4271	12 October 1876	James William Baker Charlotte Haunch Laumene	James William Baker Charlotte Hannah Lawrence 💍 1876/2239	Widower Spinster	Road Inspector [illegible]	36 21	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 19 years	Registrar's Office	76/2346		12 October 1876	Registrar of Marriages, W.P. Anderson
4272	12 October 1876	George Davidson Jessie Smith	George Davidson Jessie Smith 💍 1876/2519	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer [illegible]	26 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office	76/2347		12 October 1876	Registrar of Marriages, W.P. Anderson
4273	12 October 1876	William John Sparkes Margaret Ann Howard	William John Sparkes Margaret Ann Howard 💍 1876/2907	Bachelor Spinster	Museum Assistant [illegible]	25 20	Ferry Road Christchurch	8 years 17 years	St. Luke's Church	76/2982	Charles Howard, Father	12 October 1876	Rev E. A. Lingard, CofE
4274	12 October 1876	Thomas Sullivan Alice Oppenheim	Thomas Bullivant Alice Oppenheim 💍 1876/2989	Widower Spinster	Builder [illegible]	30 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 17 years	St. Luke's Church	76/3088	John Oppenheim, Father	12 October 1876	Rev Jt. C. M. Watson, CofE
4275	12 October 1876	David Davis Leonore Simonsen	David Davis Leonore Simonsen 💍 1876/2894	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant [illegible]	25 16	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 5 days	Synagogue	76/2993	Martin Simonsen, Father	12 October 1876	Rev I. Zachariah, Heb
4276	13 October 1876	Joseph Williamson Agnes Bruce	Joseph Williamson Annie Bruce 💍 1876/2909	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	24 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	Church of St Luke	76/2984		13 October 1876	Rev E. A. Lingard, CofE
4277	13 October 1876	Richard Thringston Ellen Maria Morton		Bachelor Spinster	Merchant [illegible]	21 16	Christchurch Kowai Bush	2 months 6 months	In the house	76/3094	William Francis Morton, Father	13 October 1876	Rev H. C. M. Watson, CofE
4278	14 October 1876	Adam Beck Mary Stokes	Adam Beck Mary Stokes 💍 1876/2604	Bachelor Spinster	Constable Machinist	27 23	Christchurch St Albans	2 years 16 years	Wesleyan Church	76/2729		14 October 1876	Rev W. Morley, Wes
4279	14 October 1876	John Sutton Mary Shannon Beattie	John Sutton Mary Shannon Beattie 💍 1876/2949	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer [illegible]	25 23	Addington Addington	3 years 12 years	In the house	76/2930		14 October 1876	Rev C. Fraser, 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).