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 605

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1877 Registrar Markuson

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
4501	21 April 1877	Walter Limus Alice Ann Gardner	Walter Timms Alice Ann Gardiner 💍 1877/1109	Bachelor Spinster	Labour Servant	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In the Primitive Methodist	77/1029	William Gardner Father	21 April 1877	H. Harris
4502	23 April 1877	Johann Matthias Meyer Maria Bint	Johann Matthier Meyer Maria Bint 💍 1877/1096	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Servant	40 30	Christchurch Knightstown	3 days 6 months	In the Wesleyan Chapel, Knightstown	77/1015		23 April 1877	Rev. J. Crump
4503	23 April 1877	Benjamin Hampton Frances Alice Hampton	Benjamin Hampton Francis Alice Hampton 💍 1877/3016	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	32 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 year	In the Church of St Michael	77/3053	There is no person to consent	23 April 1877	R. E. Penny
4504	23 April 1877	Frank Vale Sarah Ann Pearce	Frank Vale Sarah Annie Pearce 💍 1877/1125	Bachelor Spinster	Cabman	25 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 1 year	Wesleyan Church	77/1022	Richard James Pearce Father	23 April 1877	Rev W. Morley
4505	24 April 1877	Henry Sinclair Jessie Smith Veitch	Henry Sinclair Jessie Smith Veitch 💍 1877/2659	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	27 25	Christchurch Christchurch	6 weeks 5 weeks	In the House of Rev. E. Fraser	77/2643		24 April 1877	Rev. E. Fraser
4506	24 April 1877	Thomas Bowman Amelia Earnshaw	Thomas Bowman Amelia Earnshaw 💍 1877/2658	Bachelor Widow	Labour Laundress	35 42	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 5 years	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser	77/2642		24 April 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4507	24 April 1877	William Henry Collis Mary Ann Platt	William Henry Collis Mary Ann Pratt 💍 1877/1124	Bachelor Widow	Labour Servant	38 35	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In the House of Rev. W. Morley	77/1021		24 April 1877	Rev. W. Morley
4508	26 April 1877	John Craighton Fanny Cartman	John Craighton Fanny Cartman 💍 1877/1128	Bachelor Spinster	Constable Dressmaker	31 26	Christchurch Christchurch	20 months 14 years	In the Wesleyan Church	77/1025		26 April 1877	Rev. W. Morley
4509	26 April 1877	Thomas Breen Rebecca McMullen	Thomas Breen Rebecca McMullin 💍 1877/1127	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Housemaid	30 22	Papanui Christchurch	9 years 2 years	In the Wesleyan Church	77/1024		26 April 1877	Rev. W. Morley
4510	26 April 1877	James Wilson Mary Willis	James Wilson Mary Willis 💍 1877/1116	Bachelor Widow	Shepherd Housekeeper	47 49	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 4 years	Registrar's Office	77/1034		26 April 1877	Registrar of Marriages Markerson
4511	26 April 1877	John Herbert Jane Mincombe	John Herbert Jane Morcombe 💍 1877/1086	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	30 36	Riccarton Christchurch	3 months 8 years	In St Luke's Church	77/1006		26 April 1877	Rev. E. A. Lingard

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 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).