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 616

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
3939	12 January 1876	Nathan Sowets Hellen Paton	Nathan Jowett Hellen Paton 💍 1876/392	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	29 20	Christchurch Do	12 Years 1 Year	In the house of Mr Carter, Chester Street	76/440	There is no person having authority to consent	12 January 1876	Rev B.L. Westbrooke, Trin
3940	12 January 1876	Francis Auchallance Alice Savage	Francis Mullholland Alice Savage 💍 1876/1489	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	22 23	Christchurch Do	3 Years 2 Years	In the house of Rev C. Fraser, Tuam Street	76/1528		12 January 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
3941	13 January 1876	James McGowan Bridget O'Shea	James McGowan Bridget O'Shea 💍 1876/1487	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer Servant	21 18	Christchurch, Tuam Street Do	1 Year 1 Year	In the Scotch Church, Christchurch	76/1526	There is no person having authority to consent	15 January 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
3942	14 January 1876	Robert Thomson Grace Layfor	Robert Thomson Grace Taylor 💍 1876/763 Robert Thomson Eleanor Jane Lang 💍 1876/1277	Widower Spinster	Clerk	38 22	Christchurch Do	20 Years 20 Years	In St Lukes Church, Christchurch	76/699		14 January 1876	Rev G.A. Lingard, CofE
3943	17 January 1876	James McPhail Ann Phillips	James McPhail Ann Phillips 💍 1876/1488 James Chapman Ann Phillips 💍 1876/2785	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	29 23	Christchurch Do	6 months 1 Year	In the house of Rev C. Fraser, Tuam Street	76/1529		17 January 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
3944	18 January 1876	Edwin George Philpott Maria Turner	Edwin George Philpott Maria Turner 💍 1876/384	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 29	Christchurch Harewood Road	3 days 15 Years	In the Wesleyan Chapel, Ashley	76/454		18 January 1876	Rev A.R. Fitchett, Wes
3945	19 January 1876	Alfred Thompson Alicia Susan McKibbon	Alfred Thompson Alicia Stuart McKibbin 💍 1876/671	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	32 24	Christchurch Do	25 Years 2 Years	In St Johns Church, Christchurch	76/730		19 January 1876	Rev H.C.M. Watson, CofE
3946	20 January 1876	Robert Roberts Emily Husband	Robert Roberts Emily Husband 💍 1876/1495	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Nurse	30 26	Christchurch Christchurch	10 Years 3 Years	In the house of Rev C. Fraser, Tuam Street	76/1534		20 January 1876	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
3947	22 January 1876	William Thomas Adeline Charlotte Cook		Bachelor Spinster	Gardiner	24 26	Christchurch Do	4 Years 1 Year	In the Church of St Michael, Christchurch	76/135		22 January 1876	Rev H.J. Edwards, CofE
3948	24 January 1876	Charles William Hawe Ann Healdon	Charles William Rowe Ann Wheelden 💍 1876/450	Bachelor Spinster	Builder Nurse	30 26	Christchurch Christchurch	20 Years 3 Years	Christchurch	76/486		24 January 1876	Rev H.J. Habens, Congre
3949	24 January 1876	Charles Reader Susannah Taylor	Charles Reader Susannah Taylor 💍 1876/407 Charles Leach Pauline Taylor 💍 1876/1727	Bachelor Spinster	Bookbinder	24 18	Christchurch Armagh Street	24 Years 4 Years	In the house of C.M. Reader, Christchurch	76/462	Euphemia Taylor, Mother	24 January 1876	Rev H.H. Beck, Wes

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).