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 616

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
4605	07 July 1877	David Gordon Holmes Louisa Deamer	David Gordon Holmes Louisa Deamer 💍 1877/2023	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	40 22	Christchurch Christchurch	12 months in the District 12 years	St. John's Church	77/1985		07 July 1877	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
4606	07 July 1877	John Lilley Mary Lees Cutler	John Lilly Mary Lees Cutter 💍 1877/2202	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 17	West Melton West Melton	12 years 12 years	In the house of Mr. Cutler	77/2157	John Cutler, Father	07 July 1877	Rev. I. W. Gamble
4607	09 July 1877	James Sterling Catherine Mewis Sandwick	James Sterling Katherine Munro Grindrod 💍 1877/2126	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman Servant	31 27	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months in the District 2 years	In the Caledonian Road	77/2092		09 July 1877	Rev. E. A. Scott
4608	10 July 1877	James Goldsworthy Priscilla Wale	James Goldsworthy Priscilla Wales 💍 1877/2580	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker Servant	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months in the house 2 years	Church	77/2585		10 July 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4609	10 July 1877	Joe Harrop Abigail McBounch	Joe Harrop Abigail McDonnell 💍 1877/2173	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years in Durham Street 2 years	Michael's Church	77/2140		10 July 1877	Rev. E. E. Penney
4610	11 July 1877	Charles Linwood Mary Jane Spencer	Charles Inwood Mary Jane Spencer 💍 1877/2234	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 20	New Brighton New Brighton	9 years in the District 8 years	Avonside Church	77/2198	Edmund Spencer, Father	11 July 1877	Rev. H. Glasson
4611	11 July 1877	William Townsend Margaret Halton	William Townsend Margaret Hatton 💍 1877/2622	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	9 months in the District 5 years	In Strickland's	77/2629		11 July 1877	Rev. H. R. Williamson
4612	12 July 1877	John An. Thy Josephine Alice Shaddick	John Ah Ting Josephine Alice Shaddick 💍 1877/2599	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Servant	24 19	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years in Ferry Road 1 year in the house	Of Mr. Creaser	77/2587	There is a person having authority	12 July 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4613	12 July 1877	Christian Anderson [illegible]		Bachelor [illegible]	Mariner	38	Christchurch [illegible]	6 years in Durham Street [illegible]	In the house	77/1801		12 July 1877	Rev. W. Harris
4614	13 July 1877	Valentine Blake Reguild Erickson		Bachelor Widow	Gardener Servant	56 30	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years in the Roman Catholic Church 5 years in Sydenham Street	Catholic Church	77/2182		13 July 1877	Rev. T. L'Ewiaty
4615	14 July 1877	John Harper Priscilla Hrips Jesey	John Harper Priscilla Wright Vesey 💍 1877/2170	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 20	Woolston Avonside	23 years in the District 7 years in Church		77/2634	Frederick Jesey, Father	14 July 1877	Rev. H. Glasson

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).