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 626

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
4035	11 April 1876	Morris Schames Pooti Peerie	Morris Schames Tovbi Peerie 💍 1876/1010	Bachelor Widow	Hawker [illegible]	28 28	Christchurch Christchurch	7 months 16 months	Registrar's Office Christchurch	76/958		11 April 1876	Registrar of Marriages, W. T. Parkinson
4036	11 April 1876	William Clark Annie Anderson	William Clark Annie Anderson 💍 1876/3263	Bachelor Spinster	Millwright [illegible]	30 26	Christchurch Christchurch, Gloucester Street	3 days 15 years	In the House, Leeston	76/1056		11 April 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4037	11 April 1876	Frederick Baker Margaret Agar	Frederick Baker Margaret Ager 💍 1876/1369	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Dressmaker	32 34	Christchurch Newtown	3 years 2 years	Michael Church, Christchurch	76/1339		11 April 1876	Rev J. F. Edwards, CofE
4038	12 April 1876	William Hodges Susannah Mardon	William Hodges Susannah Mardon 💍 1876/1011	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	76/959		12 April 1876	Registrar of Marriages, W. T. Parkinson
4039	12 April 1876	David Craw Elizabeth Laura Dorris	David Craw Elizabeth Laura Harris 💍 1876/932	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer [illegible]	21 20	Papanui Papanui	13 years 17 years	In the Papanui Church	76/944	William Colbert Dorris, Father	12 April 1876	Rev F. G. Brittan, CofE
4040	13 April 1876	Peter Hansen Christina Mary Sorensen	Peter Hansen Kristina Mary Jorensen 💍 1876/901 Sorren Hansen Christine Marie Petersen Beck 💍 1876/1462	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 26	Malvern Boyleston	3 months 2 years	In the Papanui Church	76/945		13 April 1876	Rev F. G. Brittan, CofE
4041	15 April 1876	John Boyce Sarah Moffat	John Boyce Sarah Moffat 💍 1876/3264	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	29 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 5 weeks	In the House, Ashley Town	76/1554		15 April 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4042	15 April 1876	James Wilkinson Mary Irvine	James Wilkinson Mary Iroine 💍 1876/1013 Moses Wilkinson Fanny Jane Irving 💍 1876/2065	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	32 25	Christchurch Christchurch	6 weeks 1 year	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	76/961		15 April 1876	Registrar of Marriages, W. T. Parkinson
4043	15 April 1876	William Hilliars Jane O'Keeffe	William Hilliard Jane O'Keeffe 💍 1876/1012	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Machinist	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrar's Office, Christchurch	76/960	Having authorized consent	15 April 1876	Registrar of Marriages, W. T. Parkinson
4044	15 April 1876	Henry Silvester Jane Davis	George Lihester Jane Davis 💍 1876/3136	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Schoolmistress	25 22	Kowai Pass Springston	5 months 10 years	In the House of Mr Silvester	76/1333		15 April 1876	Rev H. Cunnell, Wes
4045	15 April 1876	John Finn Mary Kermay	John Finn Mary Kearney 💍 1876/917	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In the Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	76/939		15 April 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).