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 617

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1877 Registrar M. Mackinnon

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
4616	16 July 1877	Benjamin Horrex Sarah Howard	Benjamin Horrex Sarah Howard 💍 1877/2039	Bachelor Widow	Coachman Shopkeeper	47 46	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 22 years	In the house of Horrex	77/1995		16 July 1877	R. C. Salter
4617	18 July 1877	Thomas Siddle Margaret Ann Greer	Thomas Liddle Margaret Ann Greer 💍 1877/1859	Widower Widow	Labourer Servant	46 34	Christchurch Papanui	3 years 5 months	In the Ryktheu Office	77/1491		18 July 1877	Richard Merrington
4618	18 July 1877	Henry Wetherell Sophia Catherine Harris	Henry Wetherall Sophia Catherine Harvey 💍 1877/2127	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Machinist	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 3 years	In the Church of St Luke	77/2093		18 July 1877	R. S. de Lycett
4619	19 July 1877	Edwin Osborne Margaret McLevancy	Edwin Osborne Margaret McSavaney 💍 1877/2606	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	55 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 10 years	In the house Little River	77/2588		19 July 1877	R. C. Fraser
4620	21 July 1877	William Erase Lucy Clara Trickett	William Craze Lucy Clara Trickett 💍 1877/2209	Bachelor Spinster	Stockeeper	34 21	West Melton West Melton	2 years 14 years	In the Baptist Chapel	77/2152		21 July 1877	R. C. Salter
4621	21 July 1877	William G. Fife Matilda Robins	William McGill Matilda Robinson 💍 1877/2609	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 4 months	In the Jestch Church	77/2591		21 July 1877	R. C. Fraser
4622	23 July 1877	William Robert Steele Jane Foster	William Robert Steel Jane Foster 💍 1877/2608	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 2 years	In the Town	77/2590		23 July 1877	R. C. Fraser
4623	23 July 1877	James Bellamy Sarah Jane Forsyth	James Bellamy Sarah Jane Forsythe 💍 1877/2145	Bachelor Spinster	Smith Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 4 years	In the Bolton Church	77/2111		23 July 1877	R. L. Moore
4624	25 July 1877	William Peer Radcliffe Elizabeth Duncan	William Teer Radcliffe Elizabeth Duncan 💍 1877/2105	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	19 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 2 days	In the Rowan	77/2010	William Radcliffe, father	25 July 1877	R. J. Ellsmere
4625	26 July 1877	John Parsons Elizabeth Jane Collins	John Parsons Elizabeth Jane Collins 💍 1877/1860	Widower Spinster	Tailor Servant	35 25	Waltham Heathcote Valley	7 years 18 months	In the Registrar's Office	77/1492		26 July 1877	Richard Merrington
4626	26 July 1877	Charles Sandman Cecilia McRay	Charles Sandman Cecilia McKay 💍 1877/2610	Bachelor Spinster	German Servant	27 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 3 years	In the Town	77/2592		26 July 1877	R. 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).