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 638

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
4167	10 July 1876	Thomas Brown Failand Zillah Laycock	Thomas Brown Harland Lillah Laycock 💍 1876/1897	Bachelor Spinster	Guard	26 20	White Cliffs Christchurch	6 months 3 years	Wesleyan Church, Durham Street	76/1966	Robert Laycock, Father	10 July 1876	Rev I. Berry, Wes
4168	10 July 1876	Henry Paper Sarah Maria Wilkins	Henry Paget Sarah Maria Wilkins 💍 1876/1852	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 17	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 2 years	St Michael's Church, Christchurch	76/1944	William Wilkins, Father	10 July 1876	Rev H.J. Edwards, CofE
4169	10 July 1876	Christopher O'Reile Margaret O'Reile	Christopher ONeill Margaret ONeill 💍 1876/1851	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Servant	25 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	76/1991		10 July 1876	Rev J.P. Chareyre, RC
4170	10 July 1876	John Rough Margaret Ellis	John Gough Margaret Ellis 💍 1876/1857	Widower Widow	Carrier	31 25	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 9 years	Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	76/1996		10 July 1876	Rev J.P. Chareyre, RC
4171	11 July 1876	David Graup Emma Eves De Plae	David Grange Emma Ives De Place 💍 1876/2139	Bachelor Widow	Shunter	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 2 months	In the house, Colombo Road	76/2231		11 July 1876	Rev H.J. Habens, [illegible]
4172	11 July 1876	William Mectaway Ellen Horner	William Westaway Ellen Horner 💍 1876/2137	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	28 26	Papanui Road Papanui Road	14 months 2 years	In Merivale	76/2229		11 July 1876	Rev J.J. Stack, CofE
4173	12 July 1876	Henry Horsford Price Emily Constance Lean	Henry Horsford Prins Emily Constance Lean 💍 1876/1892	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon	41 20	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 20 years	Church, Riccarton	76/1961	Alexander Lean, Father	12 July 1876	Rev F.A. Hare, CofE
4174	12 July 1876	George Gregory Sarah Thackwell	George Gregory Sarah Thackwell 💍 1876/1845	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	39 21	East Malvern East Malvern	4 years 9 months	In the house, St Albans	76/1985	Mr Preston	12 July 1876	Rev B.J. Westbrook, Prim
4175	12 July 1876	John McLuim Ellen Maloney	John McQuinn Ellen Maloney 💍 1876/1853	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	32 26	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 3 years	Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	76/1992		12 July 1876	Rev J.P. Chareyre, RC
4176	13 July 1876	Robert Walton Elizabeth Sipley	Robert Gardyne Elizabeth Noble 💍 1877/639 Robert Thompson Elizabeth Couper 💍 1876/1538 Robert Lawrance Elizabeth Dwyer 💍 1876/1038 Robert Fawcett Elizabeth Mercer 💍 1877/113 Robert George Elizabeth Jones 💍 1876/351	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	29 22	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	7 years 5 years	Scotch Church, Lincoln			13 July 1876	Rev J.P. Wilson, Pres
4177	13 July 1876	Alexander Spring Mary Dunn	Alexander Spring Mary Dunn 💍 1876/1854	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 18 months	Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	76/1993		13 July 1876	Rev J. P. Chareyre, RC

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).