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 619

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1877 Registrar J. Morkinson

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
4638	18 August 1877	John Henry Rewton Ellen Jane Dicere	John Henry Newton Ellen Jane Vicary 💍 1877/2612	Bachelor Spinster	Guard Servant	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	77/2594		8 August 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4639	19 August 1877	William Themestary Lavinia Forcashouse	William Thomas Strong Lavinia Dorcas Rosser 💍 1877/2040	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker Seamstress	33 27	Christchurch Christchurch	15 months 3 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	77/1996		8 August 1877	Rev. C. Collyns
4640	9 August 1877	Robert Braeke Marian Ann Thomas	Robert Brake Margaret Ann Thomas 💍 1877/1829	Bachelor Spinster	Gardman	25 24	Christchurch Halswell	19 years 4 weeks	In the Roman Catholic Church	77/1484		9 August 1877	R de B. Hovell
4641	9 August 1877	Henry Plummer Annie Maker	Henry Primmer Annie Maher 💍 1877/2224 Henry Endres Annie Milner 💍 1877/877	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 20	Knightstown St Albans	9 months 10 years	Catholic Church	77/1491	Maker, Father	9 August 1877	R. L. Lumaty
4642	9 August 1877	Thomas White Bella Rque	Thomas Hunter Bella Kane 💍 1877/1846	Widower Spinster	Tracer Housekeeper	30 25	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	77/1802		9 August 1877	R. I. Wheel
4643	11 August 1877	Joseph Srocott Hannah Stephen	Joseph Grocott Hannah Dryden 💍 1877/2590	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	45 30	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 10 days	In the Roman Catholic Church	77/2596		11 August 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4644	11 August 1877	Henry Irwin Merabith Shiffield	Henry Irwin Elizabeth Whitfield 💍 1877/2591	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Servant	32 28	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 7 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	77/2594		11 August 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4645	13 August 1877	Robert Grant Mary Mc'Loon	Robert Grant Mary McEloon 💍 1877/2219	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 22	Waltham Christchurch	6 years 6 months	Catholic Church	77/2186		13 August 1877	R. L. Lumaty
4646	14 August 1877	Patrick Murphy Mary Mahon	Patrick Murphy Mary Mahony 💍 1877/2218	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 15 months	Catholic Church	77/2185		14 August 1877	R. L. Lumaty
4647	18 August 1877	Thos Stevens Mary Ann Pellew	John Stevens Mary Ann Pellew 💍 1877/1861	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 30	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	18 months 6 months	In the Register Office	77/1993		18 August 1877	Registrar of Marriages, Macadam
4648	18 August 1877	William Heure Caroline Elizabeth		Bachelor Spinster	Straman	34 23	Christchurch Christchurch	17 months 8 years	St. Paul's Church	77/1986		18 August 1877	R. H. E. M. Watson

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).