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 607

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1877 Registrar J. Markeven

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
4523	9 May 1877	George Strawler Catherine Cheeseman	George Hawker Catherine Cheeseman 💍 1877/2565	Widower Widow	Baker Dressmaker	55 45	Woolston Heathcote Valley	12 years 1 year	In the house of Rev C Fraser			9 May 1877	Rev C Fraser
4524	9 May 1877	William Isuncock Christina Lawson	William Johncock Christina Lawson 💍 1877/2662	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	33 32	Waltham Waltham	1 year 1 year	In the house of Rev C Fraser	77/2646		9 May 1877	Rev C Fraser
4525	10 May 1877	Alfred Thomas Baynes Betsey Gordon	Alfred Thomas Baynes Betsey Gordon 💍 1877/2639	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 17	Lincoln Lincoln	7 years 9 years	In the house of Rev C Fraser	77/2047	James Gordon Father	10 May 1877	Rev C Fraser
4526	10 May 1877	Charles Edward Ingram Sarah Emma Hudson	Charles Edwin Ingram Sarah Emma Hudson 💍 1877/1088	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 18	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 14 years	In the Church of Rev Luke	77/1008	John Hudson Father	10 May 1877	R & A Lingard
4527	10 May 1877	John Ross [illegible] Ancklenump		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 25	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 10 years	In the house of Rev C Fraser	77/2648		10 May 1877	Rev C Fraser
4528	12 May 1877	Samuel Bugg Emma Hewitt	Samuel Bugg Emma Hewitt 💍 1877/1291	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	65 45	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 14 years	Congregational Church	77/1240		12 May 1877	Rev W. I. Habens
4529	14 May 1877	Charles Albert Piper Jemima Johnston	Charles Albert Piper Jamima Johnston 💍 1877/1360	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Milliner	21 22	Christchurch Waltham	19 years 9 months	Wesleyan Church	77/1310		14 May 1877	R. H. Morley
4530	15 May 1877	William Russell Moores Edith Miranda Mountfort	William Russell Morris Edith Miranda Mountfort 💍 1877/1317	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 20 years	In the house	77/1266	Benjamin Mountfort Father	15 May 1877	R. H. Elmslie
4531	15 May 1877	Christian Hansen Pittarine Lousen		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	In the house of Rev C Fraser	77/2668		15 May 1877	R. C. Fraser
4532	15 May 1877	William Smith Elizabeth Stephen	William Smith Elizabeth Dryhurst 💍 1877/2191 William Smith Mary Elizabeth Ellis Scott 💍 1877/2675 William Smith Emma Parker 💍 1877/85	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	25 37	Burnham Burnham	9 months 2 years	In the house of Mrs Clevers	77/2150		15 May 1877	Rev J. W. Sawle
4533	15 May 1877	John Henry Schmidt Alice Lauyon	Johann Heinrich Schmidt Alice Lanyon 💍 1877/3017	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	25 22	Kaiapoi Christchurch	6 months 2 years	Michael's Church	77/3056		15 May 1877	Rev S. S. Penny

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).