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 J.J. Marderson

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	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
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
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
4389	22 January 1877	Samuel Bugg Elizabeth Stephinst	Samuel Bugg Emma Hewitt 💍 1877/1291	Widower Widow	Labourer Machinist	65 36	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 18 months	In the house of Mr. Chivers	77/384	22 January 1877	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	77/1395	23 January 1877	Rev. R. C. Fraser
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 R. Chaser		23 January 1877	Rev. J. C. M. Watson
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 the house of [illegible]		25 January 1877	Rev. E. C. Penny
4393	25 January 1877	Henry Taylor Eliza Moore	Henry Taylor Eliza Moore 💍 1877/787 Henry Millar Eliza Jane Moore 💍 1878/18	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 3 years	In Michael's Church	77/682	25 January 1877	[illegible]
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
4395	30 January 1877	Albert Frederick Totner Lucy Meeson	Albert Frederick Toomer Lucy Meeson 💍 1877/469	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	21 22	Phillipstown Phillipstown	2 years 2 years	In the Public Church	77/374	30 January 1877	Rev. A. E. Bardwell
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 Church	77/644	30 January 1877	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 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).