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 626

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

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
[illegible]	[illegible]	Jane Heron [illegible]		Widow [illegible]	House Keeper [illegible]	36 [illegible]	Lincoln Road [illegible]	12 years [illegible]	Tram Street	[illegible]		[illegible]	[illegible]
4699	8 October 1877	Catherine Cheeseman [illegible]		Widow [illegible]	Machinist [illegible]	46 [illegible]	Heathertitelle [illegible]	20 years [illegible]	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	77/2541		8 October 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4700	8 October 1877	George Mayorder Citishai Pressney		Widower Bachelor	Baker Clerk	56 26	Woolston Christchurch	11 years 7 years	Juany Street, Michael Church	77/2981	Peter R. Grey, Father	8 October 1877	Rev. E. S. Penny
4701	8 October 1877	Has is William Clark Jenkin McGregor		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	36 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 years	Michael Church	77/2980		8 October 1877	Rev. E. S. Penny
4702	9 October 1877	Allay Bowles Elizabeth Wood		Bachelor Spinster	Artist [illegible]	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 4 days	Michael Church	77/2981	There is no person having authority to give consent	9 October 1877	Rev. St. C. M. Coton
4703	11 October 1877	Thomas Valentical Lorette Stewart		Bachelor Spinster	Storeman [illegible]	43 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 3 years	Johns Church	77/2956		11 October 1877	Rev. S. Withems
4704	15 October 1877	Robert Johnstone Mary Linnett	Robert Johnstone Margaret Murray 💍 1877/2567	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Seamstress	26 42	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 6 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	77/2543		15 October 1877	Rev. E. Fraser
4705	15 October 1877	William Hedley Hyde Margaret Murray	William Clyde Margaret Turner 💍 1877/1507 William Helme Margaret Marshall 💍 1877/3104 William Batten Margaret Morris 💍 1877/2797 William O'Brien Margaret Morgan 💍 1878/115 William George Sanders Margaret Davy 💍 1877/314 William Harrington Margaret McLean 💍 1877/2013	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	21 28	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 1 month	In the house of Mr. W. Moore	77/2626		15 October 1877	Rev. I. Crump
4706	18 October 1877	Edward Thompson Elizabeth Cestine Storck	Edward Thompson Annie Caroline Lawler 💍 1877/2995	Bachelor Spinster	Waterman Servant	38 23	Christchurch St. Albans	1 week 6 months	Michael Church	77/2982		18 October 1877	Rev. E. S. Penny
4707	18 October 1877	Thomas Lyford Annie Carding	Thomas Lyford Elizabeth Seabright 💍 1877/2568	Bachelor Lesstor Spinster	Groom Laundress	19 33	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 3 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	77/2544	Thomas Lyford, Father	18 October 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4708	22 October 1877	John were Baker Elizabeth Lesbright		Bachelor Spinster	Gardener [illegible]	28 17	Christchurch Christchurch	8 days 14 years	Wesleyan Church	77/2633	William Lesbright, Father	22 October 1877	Rev. W. Morley
4709	22 October 1877	Maryann Gristing William Rowe		Spinster Mower	[illegible] Blacksmith	18 39	Christchurch Lincoln Road	8 days 3 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	77/2545		22 October 1877	Rev. 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).