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 636

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
4145	23 June 1876	William Henry Blackmore Louisa Maria Burrow	William Henry Blackmore Louisa Maria Burrow 💍 1876/924	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Servant	22 22	Christchurch Colombo Road	7 years 3 years	In the house of Mr. Alleson	76/923		June 1876	Rev I. Berry, Wes
4146	24 June 1876	James Mackintosh Charlotte Robinson	James MacKintosh Charlotte Robinson 💍 1876/1638	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	31 24	Malvern Lincoln Road	4 years 6 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser, Christchurch	76/1585		June 24 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4147	26 June 1876	James Sawle Kemp Naomi Jerrall	James Sowle Kemp Naomi Terrall 💍 1876/1636	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	24 23	Greendale Christchurch	4 years 7 years	In the house of Rev C. Fraser	76/1583		June 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4148	26 June 1876	Patrick Dowd Norah O'Malley	Patrick Dowd Honora O'Malley 💍 1876/933	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 22	Waltham Waltham	4 years 8 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	76/1006		June 1876	Rev J. P. Chareyre, R.C.
4149	26 June 1876	Niels Boag Sarah Jane Carlisle	Niels Ross Sarah Jane Carlisle 💍 1876/879	Bachelor Widow	Mariner Laundress	35 36	Heathcote Christchurch	1 week 4 days	In the Registry Office	76/969		June 1876	Registrar of Marriages, JWParkinson
4150	27 June 1876	Joseph McHolm Mary Ann O'Roarke	Joseph McHolm Mary Ann O'Roarke 💍 1876/1534	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	32 20	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 4 days	In the Church of St. John	76/1444	John O'Roarke, Father	June 1876	Rev H. C. M. Watson, CofE
4151	27 June 1876	Thomas Marriott Louisa Annie Roberts	Thomas Marriott Louisa Annie Roberts 💍 1876/1351	Bachelor [illegible]	Coachbuilder [illegible]	21 [illegible]	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years [illegible]	In the Church of St. Michael	76/1344	William Roberts, Father	June 1876	Rev H. J. Edwards, CofE
4152	28 June 1876	John Morgan Taylor Elizabeth Mary Carrol	John Morgan Taylor Elizabeth Mary Carah 💍 1876/1535	Widower Spinster	Plumber [illegible]	30 20	Waltham Waltham	18 months 18 months	In St. John's Church	76/1445	Caroline Carrol, Mother	June 1876	Rev H. C. M. Watson, CofE
4153	30 June 1876	John Sparks Annie Rose O'Hagan	John Spells Annie Rose O'Hagan 💍 1876/2853	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 22	White Cliffs Christchurch	10 months 8 months	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	76/2901		June 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4154	30 June 1876	[illegible] Swan Caroline Colyer	Stephen Swan Caroline Collyer 💍 1876/2507	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker [illegible]	26 22	Woolston Waltham	2 years 2 months	In the [illegible] Church	76/2292		June 1876	Rev B. J. Cholmondeley, CofE
4155	30 June 1876	George Marsh Dunn Mary Agatha Keenan	George Marsh Dann Mary Agatha Brennan 💍 1876/2186	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 6 months	In the Avonside Church	76/2242		June 1876	Rev H. Glasson, 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).