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 622

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
4005	16 March 1876	Thomas Green Jessie Kennedy	Thomas John Green Jessie Kennedy 💍 1876/3253	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic	33 24	Addington Addington	6 months 6 months	Works in the Town	76/1544		16 March 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4006	16 March 1876	Michael Jordain Mary Culkeen	Michael Jordan Mary Culkeen 💍 1876/403	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 25	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 8 months	Roman Catholic Church	76/1481		16 March 1876	Rev J. P. Chareyre, RC
4007	17 March 1876	Robert Reginald Lloyd Adie Cartner Glover		Bachelor Spinster	Governess	36 21	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 3 months	Lutheran Office	76/1456		17 March 1876	Registrar of Marriages, Christchurch
4008	18 March 1876	John Morrow Jane Morrow	John Gunning Herron Jane Morrow 💍 1876/3252	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	24 24	Little River Addington	14 days 5 weeks	Works in the Town	76/1546		18 March 1876	Rev C. Fraser
4009	20 March 1876	John Sutcliffe Eliza Jane Hampton	John Duffield Elisa Jane Hampton 💍 1876/3258	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Machinist	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Works in the Town	76/1552		20 March 1876	Rev C. Fraser
4010	20 March 1876	Thomas Greenes Mary Ann Brookes	Thomas Greaves Mary Ann Brookes 💍 1876/102	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	22 23	Springston Springston	10 years 6 months	Works, Springston	76/139	John Ashmore, Father	20 March 1876	Rev W. Gunnell, Pres
4011	20 March 1876	Charles Henry Richards Victoria Louisa Admore	Charles Henry Orchard Victoria Louisa Admore 💍 1876/3255	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer	21 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 18 months	Works in the Town	76/1549		20 March 1876	Rev C. Fraser
4012	21 March 1876	William Oswell Margaret McCracken	William Oswald Margaret McCraken 💍 1876/3256 William Dawson Margaret Bromley 💍 1876/3140	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	23 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 16 months	In the Church, Selwyn Terrace, Christchurch	76/403		21 March 1876	Rev E. A. Lingard, CofE
4013	22 March 1876	John Read Jane Phillips	John Read Caroline Sarah Phillips 💍 1876/122 John Kidd Mary Phillips 💍 1876/592	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 2 months	Michaels Church	76/136		22 March 1876	Rev H. J. Edwards, CofE
4014	23 March 1876	Hugh McLean Agnes Lanksand	Hugh McLean Agnes Tankard 💍 1876/767	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper Dressmaker	26 30	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 4 years	Christchurch			23 March 1876	Rev E. A. Lingard, CofE
4015	24 March 1876	Edwin Smith Isabella Beau	Edwin Smith Isabella Bean 💍 1876/3257	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Works in the Town	76/1551	There is no person having authority to consent	24 March 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).