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 621

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

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
4660	03 September 1877	John Spencer Backets Carries Elizabeth Walton	John Spencer Elizabeth Hatton 💍 1877/2131	Bachelor Spinster		30 20	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 5 years	St Luke's Church	77/1996	John Walton Father	03 September 1877	Rev. J. W. Stack
4661	03 September 1877	William Davidson Picken Margaret McKeurie	William Davidson Picker Margaret McKenzie 💍 1877/2106	Bachelor Spinster	Veterinary Surgeon Servant	33 20	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 4 days	In the Registrar's Church	77/2011		03 September 1877	Rev. J. Elmslie
4662	04 September 1877	John Lindale Lidd Sarah Dyer	John Tindale Tidd Sarah Dyer 💍 1877/1864	Bachelor Widow	Mariner Housekeeper	27 30	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 1 year	In the Registrar's Office	77/1996		04 September 1877	Registrar of Marriages, J.J. Mariferson
4663	04 September 1877	John Hanwele Sarah Jane Bullock	John Hanwell Sarah Jane Bullock 💍 1877/1865	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 8 months	In the Registrar's Office	77/1997		04 September 1877	Registrar of Marriages, J.J. Mariferson
4664	05 September 1877	Thomas Waugh Catherine Stithewale	Thomas Waugh Catherine Stillwell 💍 1877/2594	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	31 21	Christchurch Christchurch	6 weeks 4 years	In the house of Rev. Ewen	77/2000		05 September 1877	R. Ewen
4665	05 September 1877	William Mullins Emma Mary Ewen	William Mullins Emma M Guy 💍 1877/2225	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman Cook	28 24	Riccarton Riccarton	5 years 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	77/1992		05 September 1877	R. L. Kinchely
4666	10 September 1877	Henry Allan Roche Margaret Dunphy McAuliffe	George Allan Neade Margaret Anne McAuliffe 💍 1877/1850	Spinster Spinster	Civil Service Bachelor Officer	35 29	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 10 years	In the residence	77/1806		10 September 1877	Rev. J. Flavelle
4667	11 September 1877	Isaac Gibbs Mary Jane Massett	Isaac Gibbs Mary Jane Margaret Fussell 💍 1877/1851	Bachelor Widow	Clerk	29 29	St. Albans Merivale	6 months 2 years	In the residence	77/1804		11 September 1877	Rev. J. Flavelle
4668	11 September 1877	Charles Herm. Wensley Christina Pickery	Charles Herne Bisman Christina Vickery 💍 1877/1843	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	22 24	Brookton Christchurch	3 years 10 years	In the Registrar's Office	77/1999		11 September 1877	Registrar of Marriages, J.J. Mariferson
4669	11 September 1877	Jens Jensen Elizabeth Morgan	Jens Jensen Elizabeth Morgan 💍 1877/1842	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	38 36	Papanui Papanui	4 months 15 years	In the Registrar's Office	77/1998		11 September 1877	Registrar of Marriages, J.J. Mariferson
4670	12 September 1877	Isaac Horace H. Kirk Louisa de Launey	Isaac Howarth Kirk Louisa De Laurey 💍 1877/1844	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker Servant	29 19	Waltham Waltham	3 months 30 years	In Mr. Franks	77/1800		12 September 1877	R. D. Macfarlane

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).