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 593

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar W Parkerson

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

4386

19 January 1877

John Carter
Jane Withell

John Carter
Jane Withell
💍 1877/478

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
23

Riccarton
Riccarton

14 years
8 years

In the Feudalltown Church

19 January 1877

Rev. F. A. Hare

No	4386
Date of Notice	19 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Carter	Jane Withell
	💍 1877/478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	14 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the Feudalltown Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Hare

4387

20 January 1877

Neil Peter Munson
Annie Uira Focks Graham

Neil Peter Johnson
Annie Eliza Focks Graham
💍 1877/511

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Servant

32
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
4 days

In the Registrar Office

77/419

20 January 1877

Registrar of Marriages J.J. Marderson

No	4387
Date of Notice	20 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Peter Munson	Annie Uira Focks Graham
BDM Match (85%)	Neil Peter Johnson	Annie Eliza Focks Graham
	💍 1877/511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Servant
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	In the Registrar Office
Folio	77/419
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages J.J. Marderson

4388

22 January 1877

Robert James McAller
Annie McAdams

Robert James McAleer
Annie McAdams
💍 1877/479

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Dressmaker

30
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
6 months

In the Roman Catholic Church

77/374

22 January 1877

Rev. J. P. Chareyre

No	4388
Date of Notice	22 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James McAller	Annie McAdams
BDM Match (98%)	Robert James McAleer	Annie McAdams
	💍 1877/479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Dressmaker
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	77/374
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Chareyre

4389

22 January 1877

Samuel Bugg
Elizabeth Dryhurst

No corresponding marriage regn. located, but in 1877, Samuel Bugg m. Emily Hewitt, and same year (and month) Elizabeth Dryhurst married William Smith.

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Machinist

65
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

18 years
18 months

In the house of Mr. Chivers, Chester Street

22 January 1877

Rev. C. S. Morley

No	4389
Date of Notice	22 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Bugg	Elizabeth Dryhurst
BDM Match (7%)
	💍 No corresponding marriage regn. located, but in 1877, Samuel Bugg m. Emily Hewitt, and same year (and month) Elizabeth Dryhurst married William Smith.
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Machinist
Age	65	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	18 years	18 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Chivers, Chester Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Morley

4390

23 January 1877

Edwin Cookson
Mary Ann Sheppard

Edwin Cookson
Mary Ann Sheppard
💍 1877/501

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

28
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
3 years

In the Wesleyan Church Durham Street

77/384

23 January 1877

Rev. W Morley

No	4390
Date of Notice	23 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Cookson	Mary Ann Sheppard
	💍 1877/501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church Durham Street
Folio	77/384
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. W Morley

4391

23 January 1877

Francis Snedden
Elizabeth Prindiville

Francis Sneddon
Elizabeth Prendiville
💍 1877/1469

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Servant

29
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
2 years

In the house of Rev C Fraser, Tuam Street

77/1395

23 January 1877

Rev C Fraser

No	4391
Date of Notice	23 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Snedden	Elizabeth Prindiville
BDM Match (94%)	Francis Sneddon	Elizabeth Prendiville
	💍 1877/1469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Servant
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev C Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	77/1395
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev C Fraser

4392

23 January 1877

Edwin Cookson
Mary Ann Sheppard

Edwin Cookson
Mary Ann Sheppard
💍 1877/501

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

28
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
3 years

In St Johns Church, Christchurch

77/384

25 January 1877

Rev H C M Watson

No	4392
Date of Notice	23 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Cookson	Mary Ann Sheppard
	💍 1877/501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	In St Johns Church, Christchurch
Folio	77/384
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev H C M Watson

4393

25 January 1877

Henry Taylor
Eliza Moore

Henry Taylor
Eliza Moore
💍 1877/787

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

24
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
3 years

In St Michael's Church, Christchurch

77/682

25 January 1877

Rev E G Penny

No	4393
Date of Notice	25 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Taylor	Eliza Moore
	💍 1877/787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In St Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	77/682
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev E G Penny

4394

30 January 1877

John Fowler
Margaret Mary Agnes Donnelly

John Fowler
Margaret Mary Agnes Donnelly
💍 1877/490

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Schoolmistress

26
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
12 years

In the Roman Catholic Church

77/348

30 January 1877

Rev. J. P. Chareyre

No	4394
Date of Notice	30 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fowler	Margaret Mary Agnes Donnelly
	💍 1877/490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Schoolmistress
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	77/348
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Chareyre

4395

30 January 1877

Albert Frederick Toomer
Lucy Meeson

Albert Frederick Toomer
Lucy Meeson
💍 1877/469

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker

21
22

Phillipstown
Phillipstown

2 years
2 years

In the Prebbleton Church

77/374

30 January 1877

Rev. D Deberdt Hovell

No	4395
Date of Notice	30 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Frederick Toomer	Lucy Meeson
	💍 1877/469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Phillipstown	Phillipstown
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Prebbleton Church
Folio	77/374
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. D Deberdt Hovell

4396

30 January 1877

John James Thomson
Marian Bedford Lane

John James Thompson
Marian Bedford Lane
💍 1877/727

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
23

Opawa
Sumner

6 years
18 months

In the Sumner Church

77/644

30 January 1877

Rev. C. J. Merton

No	4396
Date of Notice	30 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Thomson	Marian Bedford Lane
BDM Match (97%)	John James Thompson	Marian Bedford Lane
	💍 1877/727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Sumner
Length of Residence	6 years	18 months
Marriage Place	In the Sumner Church
Folio	77/644
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Merton

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 1908. 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).