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 622

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1877 Registrar [illegible]

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
4671	14 September 1877	James Hack Catherine Gaskill	James Flack Catherine Gaskill 💍 1877/2595	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 19	Riccarton Christchurch	2 years 9 months	In the house	77/2401	Sarah Gaskill, mother	14 September 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4672	17 September 1877	Joseph Frederick Hand Sarah Bray	Joseph Frederick Ward Sarah Bray 💍 1877/1853	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 2 years	In [illegible] Merivale	77/1808	Benjamin Bray, father	17 September 1877	Rev. J. Marsh
4673	17 September 1877	Peter Cutting Mary Allen	Peter Netting Mary Allen 💍 1877/2596	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	32 26	Halswell Papanui	5 months [illegible] weeks	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	77/2602		17 September 1877	Rev. E. Fraser
4674	18 September 1877	William Cook Elizabeth Alexander	William Cook Elizabeth Alexander 💍 1877/1832	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	30 22	Christchurch Papanui	3 days 3 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	77/1484		18 September 1877	F. G. Horner
4675	19 September 1877	Arthur Alpe Emily Louisa Bloyd	Arthur Alfred Simpson Emily Louisa Lloyd 💍 1877/2024	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Servant	29 24	Ferry Road Ferry Road	2 years 2 years	Lotus Church	77/1984		19 September 1877	R. H. Chetwynd Watton
4676	22 September 1877	Fred Arnold Deucilla Burnip	Fred Arnold Drusilla Burnip 💍 1877/1847	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 6 days	In the house of Mr. Hebbard	77/1803		22 September 1877	Rev. I. Dredrick
4677	24 September 1877	William Edwards Eliza Annie Williams	William Goldsworthy Hebbard Eliza Annie Williams 💍 1877/2041 William Lewis Mary Ann Williams 💍 1878/528 William Wesney Elizabeth Louise Williams 💍 1877/683	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Seamstress	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 3 years	Added Street	77/1997	William Williams, father	24 September 1877	Rev. C. Ballantyne
4678	24 September 1877	William Henry Warren Jane Eroy	William Henry Warren Jane Grose 💍 1877/2146	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 20	Addington Addington	3 years 3 years	In the house of J. Barscowen	77/2112	Henry Eward, father	24 September 1877	Rev. S. S. Lualley
4679	25 September 1877	Duncan McLaren Catherine Mary Foote	Duncan McLaren Catherine Mary Forks 💍 1877/2026	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 23 years	Johns Church	77/1988		25 September 1877	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
4680	25 September 1877	Thomas Sealy Helen Coutts	Thomas Sealy Hellen Coults 💍 1877/2107	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Labourer	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 years	In the house of Rev. Ashburton	77/2072		25 September 1877	Rev. I. Elmslie
4681	25 September 1877	John Flynn Nora Scanlon	John Flynn Rosa Scanlon 💍 1877/2226	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years	In the Roman Bay	77/2193		25 September 1877	Rev. L. Smith

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).