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 640

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
4189	27 July 1876	James Cogan Margaret Rearden	James Cogan Margaret Reardan 💍 1876/2018	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	32 19	Malvern Malvern	11 years 18 months	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch	76/1997	Ellen Rearden, Mother	27 July 1876	Rev. J. P. Chareyre, R.C.
4190	29 July 1876	William Davis Lucy Ward	William Davis Lucy Ward 💍 1876/1908	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 19	Hororata Hororata	8 years 11 years	In the Hororata Church	76/1954	Thomas Ward, Father	29 July 1876	Rev. J. F. Teakle
4191	29 July 1876	John Hughes Elizabeth Stewart	John Hughes Elizabeth Stewart Williamson 💍 1876/1848 Edward Hughes Elizabeth Shepherd 💍 1876/3045	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Laundress	26 20	Hawmere Road, Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 11 years	In the house of [illegible] Street	76/1988	[illegible]	29 July 1876	Rev. J. Aldred
4192	29 July 1876	James Bames Harriet Fussell	Anthony Barnes Harriet Fussell 💍 1876/1905	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	33 35	Tai Tapu Lincoln	6 years 6 years	In the Lincoln Church	76/1950		29 July 1876	Rev. H. Stocker
4193	31 July 1876	William Whitehorn Mary Napier	William Hitchell Mary Napier 💍 1876/1909	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	33 27	Hororata Hororata	5 years 5 years	In the Hororata Church	76/1953		31 July 1876	Rev. J. F. Gould
4194	4 August 1876	Thomas Griffiths Ann Richards	Thomas Griffiths Ann Richards 💍 1876/1861	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	44 46	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 6 years	In the Southbridge Registrar's Office	76/1998		4 August 1876	Registrar of Marriages, S. B. Parkinson
4195	5 August 1876	Richard Searlett Edith Maria Thomline Abell	Richard Scarlet Edith Maria Thornton Abell 💍 1876/2787	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 16	Malvern Malvern	3 years 2 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	76/2912	Maria Eals Askew, Mother	5 August 1876	Rev. C. Fraser
4196	5 August 1876	John Boughton Emily Banfield	John Boughton Emily Banfield 💍 1876/1911	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Tailoress	23 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 months	In St. Luke's Church, Christchurch	76/1954		5 August 1876	Rev. G. A. Lingard
4197	7 August 1876	Henry Nelson Angelina Sapes	Lewis Henry Nelson Angelina Gapes 💍 1876/2187	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	In the Avonside Church	76/2243		7 August 1876	Rev. J. Elmslie
4198	7 August 1876	Richard Charles Pasley Eliza Thomson	Robert Charles Pasley Eliza Thomson 💍 1876/2508	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Inspector	35 28	Opawa Christchurch	3 years 3 months	In the Avonside Church	76/2290		7 August 1876	Rev. J. F. Cholmondeley
4199	7 August 1876	Robert William Hughes Margaret Hart	Robert William Hughes Margaret Hart 💍 1876/2786	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter Servant	29 25	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 2 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Christchurch	76/2911		7 August 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).