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 627

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1877 Registrar J. MacKerras

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
4710	22 October 1877	Samuel Freeman Marie Selavie	Samuel Freeman Marie Octavia Laurence Vachoup 💍 1877/2907	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	28 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 Years 4 days	St. John's Church	77/2918		22 October 1877	Rev. H. Watson
4711	23 October 1877	Michael Kiely Ellen Helehy	Michael Kiely Ellen Herlihy 💍 1877/3144	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	35 32	Waltham Waltham	2 Years 2 Years	Catholic Church	77/3031		23 October 1877	Rev. L. Kimaty
4712	24 October 1877	Frederick Hermann Von Schaneberg Christina Schnack		Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	25 19	Christchurch Harewood Road	2 Years 19 Years	In the German Church	77/2624	Schnack, Father	24 October 1877	Rev. L. Lohy
4713	27 October 1877	Henry Chismount Elizabeth Chandler	Henry Thomas Limb Elizabeth Chandler 💍 1877/2905	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Years 3 Years	In the [illegible] Church	77/2916		27 October 1877	Rev. H. Elamson
4714	27 October 1877	Henry Soey Elizabeth Louisa [illegible]	Henry Ivey Elizabeth Louisa Gwatkin 💍 1877/2620 Henry Dovey Elizabeth Sparks 💍 1877/3048 Henry Fox Elizabeth Nankivell 💍 1877/1431	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Milliner	24 26	Christchurch Christchurch	11 Years 4 Years	In [illegible] Church	77/2627		27 October 1877	Rev. de B. Hoare
4715	29 October 1877	William Andrew Sarah Lung Lipscomb	William Andrews Sarah Anna Lipscombe 💍 1877/2903 William Avery Sarah Jane Vincent 💍 1877/328	Widower Spinster	Engineer	39 29	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 6 months	In [illegible] Church	77/2914		29 October 1877	Rev. H. Elamson
4716	30 October 1877	John Kennedy Helen Johnstone	John Kennedy Helen Johnston 💍 1877/3145 John Kennedy Maria Hollingworth 💍 1877/553 John Kennedy Erena Kuha 💍 1877/919	Bachelor Spinster	Freeman	26 26	Halswell Christchurch	16 Years 18 Years	Catholic Church	77/3032		30 October 1877	Rev. L. Kimaty
4717	31 October 1877	John Russell Ada Louisa Pilchett	John Russell Ada Louisa Pritchett 💍 1877/2996 John Russell Sarah Elizabeth Weston 💍 1877/308	Bachelor Spinster	Turner	45 25	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 3 months	Michael Church	77/2983		31 October 1877	Rev. S. S. Penny
4718	31 October 1877	George Farr Malvina Trett	George Tarr Malvina Webb 💍 1877/2637	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Seamstress	33 22	Christchurch Christchurch	26 Years 1 Year	In St. Luke's Church	77/2619		31 October 1877	Rev. H. Pascoe
4719	1 November 1877	Henry White Harriet Richardson	Henry White Harriet Richardson 💍 1877/2627	Bachelor Servant	Blacksmith	25 33	Christchurch Christchurch	1 Year 2 Years	In the [illegible]	77/2634		1 November 1877	Rev. H. Rempley
4720	2 November 1877	John Ferrell Lockes Fanny Carpenter	John Terrell Weekes Fanny Carpenter 💍 1877/2602	Bachelor Spinster	Actor	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	6 Years 3 months	Registrar's Office	77/3007		2 November 1877	Registrar J. MacKerras

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).