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 644

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
4233	6 September 1876	John M. Solvins Emmeline Jenkins	John McSolin Emmeline Jenkins 💍 1876/2038	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	32 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 1 year	Registrar's Office, Christchurch			6 September 1876	Registrar of Marriages, L.W. Parkinson
4234	6 September 1876	John M. Solvins Emmeline Scullins	John McSolin Emmeline Jenkins 💍 1876/2038	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	32 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 1 year	Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	76/2001		6 September 1876	Rev I. P. Chareyne, R.C.
4235	7 September 1876	Joseph Grzin Mary Eummers	Joseph Crozier Mary Emerson 💍 1876/2770	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	32 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 1 year	St Andrews Church, Christchurch		Elizabeth Ann Potkin, Mother	7 September 1876	Rev C. Fraser
4236	8 September 1876	George Handley Alice Simmister	George Handley Alice Simanister 💍 1876/2771	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Servant	36 36	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 12 years	In the house, Christchurch			8 September 1876	Rev C. Fraser
4237	11 September 1876	Robert Wallace Sarah Ann Smith	Robert Wallace Sarah Ann Smith 💍 1876/2007 Robert Halliday Campbell Mary Ann Smith 💍 1876/3167 John Grant Sarah Ann Smith 💍 1876/1918	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 19	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	5 years 2 years	Scotch Church, Publicton	76/2068	Sarah Smith, Mother	11 September 1876	Rev J. P. Wilson, Pres
4238	12 September 1876	Robert Kerr Annie Martha Fulton	Robert Kerr Annie Martha Datton 💍 1876/2516	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter Nurse	25 25	Lincoln Road Lincoln Road	3 months 18 months	In St John's Church	76/2282		12 September 1876	Rev H. C. M. Watson, CofE
4239	12 September 1876	Samuel George Stanton Catherine Richardson Ludune	Samuel George Stanton Catherine Nicholson Luxford 💍 1876/1902	Bachelor Spinster	Postmaster	20 25	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 6 days	In the house, Christchurch	76/1940	Joseph Stanton, Father	12 September 1876	Rev W. Morley, Wes
4240	13 September 1876	Thomas Parker Ann Ball	Thomas Parker Ann Ball 💍 1876/2773	Widower Widow	Labourer Servant	51 46	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 3 months	In the Presbyterian Church, Lyttelton	76/2921		13 September 1876	Rev C. Fraser
4241	13 September 1876	William Henry Tyack Julia Webb	William Henry Jyack Whitta Rosanna Julia Webb 💍 1876/2517	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 16 years	St John's Church, Christchurch	76/2283	Sarah Webb, Mother	13 September 1876	Rev H. C. M. Watson, CofE
4242	14 September 1876	Robert Findlay Catherine Clucas	Robert Findlay Catherine Clucas 💍 1876/2772	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	34 33	Christchurch Lyttelton	3 days 2 years	In the house, Christchurch	76/2920		14 September 1876	Rev. C. Fraser
4243	15 September 1876	Philip Henry Cameron Louisa Smith	Philip Henry Cannon Louisa Smith 💍 1876/2138	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Schoolmistress	30 25	Christchurch Papanui Road	4 years 10 years	In the Little River, Merivale Church	76/2230		15 September 1876	Rev J. W. Stack, 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).