Intentions to Marry, 1877

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840389, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 591

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar M Parkerson

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
4364	2 January 1877	David Blain Mary Elizabeth Mardon	David Blain Mary Elizabeth Mardon 💍 1877/504	Bachelor Spinster	Bookmaker Servant	32 20	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	In the Registrar Office	77/412	William Mardon, Father	2 January 1877	Registrar of Marriages M Parkerson
4365	3 January 1877	David Horwitz Allison Nellie Gibbard	David Horwitz Allison Nellie Gibbard 💍 1877/509	Bachelor Spinster	Dealer Dressmaker	29 18	Christchurch Christchurch	10 months 1 year	Christchurch Registrar Office	77/414	There is no person living authorising to consent	3 January 1877	Registrar of Marriages M Parkerson
4366	3 January 1877	William Batchelor Annie Studson	William Batchelor Annie Hudson 💍 1877/783	Bachelor Spinster	Hunter	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Years 2 Years	St Michael's Church	77/648	[illegible]	3 January 1877	Rev. S. Penny
4367	4 January 1877	William Haywoodford Harriet Jane Sandford	William George Woodford Harriet Jane Sandford 💍 1877/460	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 19	Opawa Opawa	6 months 3 years	In the [illegible]	77/366	John Sandford, Father	4 January 1877	Rev. S. J. Cholmondeley
4368	5 January 1877	William Boulcher Elizabeth Barter	William Boutcher Elizabeth Barber 💍 1877/505 William Moulder Elizabeth Hardy 💍 1877/2471 William Pollard Elizabeth Willett 💍 1877/237 William Renshaw Elizabeth Harding 💍 1877/1366 William Vincent Elizabeth Gordon 💍 1877/2730 William Flinn Elizabeth Trail 💍 1877/229 William Howie Elizabeth Finlay 💍 1877/1476 William Cook Elizabeth Alexander 💍 1877/1832 William Winsbury White Elizabeth Barratt 💍 1877/2696 William Thomas Pitcher Elizabeth Ross 💍 1877/1758 William McKerras Elizabeth Whitten 💍 1877/233	Widower Widow	Butcher Servant	46 48	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 4 days	In the Registrar Office	77/413	[illegible]	5 January 1877	Registrar of Marriages M Parkerson
4369	6 January 1877	George Rugg Martha Smale	George Rugg Martha Small 💍 1877/1450	Bachelor Spinster	coachbuilder Servant	26 28	Christchurch Christchurch	9 months 2 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam St	77/392		6 January 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4370	6 January 1877	George Rugg Henry Stevens		Bachelor Bachelor	Coachbuilder [illegible]	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	9 months 4 months	In the Registrar Office	77/418	[illegible]	6 January 1877	Registrar of Marriages M Parkerson
4371	8 January 1877	Austin Philip Sheath Elizabeth Mary Bawden		Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Seamstress	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 4 months	In the Roman Catholic Church	77/344	[illegible]	8 January 1877	Rev. I. P. Chareyre
4372	8 January 1877	Richard Kearney Ann Purdom	Richard Kearney Jane Ann Purdon 💍 1877/470	Bachelor Spinster	Horsebreaker Machinist	20 17	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 13 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	77/345	There is no person living authorising to consent, Peter Purdom, Father	8 January 1877	Rev. I. P. Chareyre
4373	9 January 1877	George Purdie Mary Ann Lockett	George Purdie Mary Ann Lockett 💍 1877/459	Bachelor Spinster	Seedsman Milliner	37 34	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 months	In the [illegible]	77/365	[illegible]	9 January 1877	Rev. S. J. Cholmondeley
4374	9 January 1877	Edmund Blackford Sarah Ann Mckin		Bachelor Spinster	Stockowner [illegible]	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 18 years	St Andrew's Church, Waikato	77/393	[illegible]	10 January 1877	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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).