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 612

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1877 Registrar J. J. Mackerrow

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
4578	21 June 1877	Charles Hillary Parker Susan Hurford Roberts	Charles Hillary Parker Susan Hurford Roberts 💍 1877/1855	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 23	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days in the Woolston 3 months in Church	[illegible]	77/1810		21 June 1877	Rev. C. I. Westin
4579	22 June 1877	James McMaster Jane Track	James McMaster Jane Warke 💍 1877/2678	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Servant	26 25	Woolston Christchurch	8 years in the house of R. Fraser 3 years in Luam Street	[illegible]	77/2664		22 June 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4580	23 June 1877	Thomas Turner Margaret Sutherland	Thomas Turner Margaret Sutherland 💍 1877/2655 Thomas Meek Janet Sutherland 💍 1877/2737	Bachelor Widow	Gardener	38 32	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years in the house of R. Fraser 15 years in Luam Street	[illegible]	77/2662		23 June 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4581	23 June 1877	David McPherson Mary Wilson	William McPherson Harriett Wilson 💍 1877/2542	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	30 34	Waltham Waltham	5 days in the house of R. Fraser 1 week in Luam Street	[illegible]	77/2661		23 June 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4582	23 June 1877	Frank Walter Barnett Jane Henrietta Morris	Frank Walter Barnett Jane Henrietta Morris 💍 1877/1091	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	26 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years in Luam Street 2 years in Christchurch	Lukes Church	77/1011	Susan Morris, mother	23 June 1877	Rev. E. C. Lingard
4583	23 June 1877	James McLeigh Catherine Sheehan	James McVeigh Catherine Sheenan 💍 1877/1104 James McVicar Catherine Carbis 💍 1877/1694	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 22	Shands Track Shands Track	4 years in the Roman Catholic Church 14 years in Shands Track	[illegible]	77/8000		23 June 1877	Rev. J. C. Herrin
4584	23 June 1877	Charles Fautham Fanny Stanton	Charles Fautham Fanny Stanton 💍 1877/3020	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	31 34	Lincoln Road Lincoln Road	3 years in St. Michaels Church 2 years in Christchurch	[illegible]	77/3059		23 June 1877	Rev. S. S. Penny
4585	25 June 1877	Henry Williams Keziah Jane	Henry Williams Keziah Jane Williams 💍 1877/2038	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	14 months in the house of Mr. Williams 2 years in Durham Street	[illegible]	77/1993		25 June 1877	Rev. C. Statham
4586	25 June 1877	Peter Elder Isabella Edwards	Peter Elder Isabella Edward 💍 1877/2677	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year in the Scotch Church 3 years in Luam Street	[illegible]	77/2666		25 June 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4587	25 June 1877	Walter Drake Sophia Cutler	Walter Drake Sophia Cutler 💍 1877/2674	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Servant	33 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year in the house of R. Fraser 10 years in Luam Street	[illegible]	77/2664		25 June 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4588	26 June 1877	Henry Turner Annie Sarah Ellen	Henry Turner Annie Sarah Ellen 💍 1877/2663	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 16	Knightstown Knightstown	2 years in the house of R. Fraser 14 years in Luam Street	[illegible]	77/2663	William Ellenden, father	26 June 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).