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 628

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1877

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
4721	3 November 1877	Walter Candy Bridget Meloney	Walter Candy Bridget Maloney 💍 1877/2997	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	25 22	Addington Addington	1 month 6 weeks	St Michael's Church	77/2984		3 November 1877	Rev. R. E. Penny
4722	3 November 1877	Charles Foster Maria Farrant O'Callahan	Charles Foster Maria Fanant O'Callahan 💍 1877/3054	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	26 18	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 18 months	St Saviour's Church	77/3069	O'Callahan Father	3 November 1877	Rev. St. B. Cocks.
4723	5 November 1877	Alexander McClinton Mary Jane Ash	Alexander McClintock Mary Jane Ash 💍 1877/2940	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	28 21	Christchurch Prebbleton	18 months 2 years	In the house of Mr. I. Elmslie	77/2950		5 November 1877	Rev. I. Elmslie
4724	5 November 1877	Francis Roil Annie Restieaux	Francis Roil Annie Restieaux 💍 1877/2908	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	20 21	Newtown Christchurch	3 months 1 year	St. Michael's Church	77/2919	Barker Mother	5 November 1877	Rev. St. Clr. Watson
4725	5 November 1877	John Cook Ann Eliza Bundy	John Cook Eliza Ann Bunting 💍 1877/2998	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 23	Courtenay Christchurch	16 years 3 months	St. Michael's Church	77/2985		5 November 1877	Rev. R. E. Penny
4726	5 November 1877	Thomas Hodge Elizabeth May	Thomas Dodge Elizabeth May 💍 1878/556	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	25 25	Rolleston St. Albans	2 years 2 years	Wesleyan Church	77/313		5 November 1877	Rev. I. Erump.
4727	6 November 1877	William Jameson Mary Hassellwood	William Jameson Mary Haswell Wood 💍 1877/2971	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 14 years	Congregational Church	77/2958		6 November 1877	Rev. Ir. I. Habens
4728	6 November 1877	Milton Tom Sutton Eliza Pearson		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	22 22	Christchurch Brugsland	3 years 3 years	In the house	77/2915		6 November 1877	Rev. St. Gleeson
4729	7 November 1877	George Ebert Mary Ann Ruddell	George Ehert Marianna Ruddell 💍 1877/2941	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	25 27	Lyttelton Lyttelton	1 year 3 weeks	Mr. Walker's	77/2957		7 November 1877	Rev. I. Elmslie
4730	7 November 1877	John Heron Annie Brown	John Heron Annie Brown 💍 1877/3146	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 1 year	Catherine Church	77/3053	Robinson Mother	7 November 1877	Rev. L. Quiets
4731	7 November 1877	John Munro Amelia Shillito	John Monro Amelia Shillis 💍 1877/2570	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	28 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Mr. Crew's	77/2546		7 November 1877	Rev. Crew

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).