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 610

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar J.J. Mairsison

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
4556	07 June 1877	John Joyce Mary Faweett	John Joyce Mary Fawcett 💍 1877/1410	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	7 Years In the Roman Catholic Church 18 Months Christchurch	Christ Church	77/1360		07 June 1877	Rev. L. Errinaty
4557	07 June 1877	William Alfred Moors Mary Ann Saison	William Alfred Moss Mary Ann Dutson 💍 1877/1123 William Henry Bennett Mary Ann Harrison 💍 1877/811	Widower Spinster	Customs Agent	44 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 & 4 Years In the Registrar Office 9 Months Christchurch	Christ Church	77/1043		07 June 1877	Registrar of Marriages W. Mairsison
4558	07 June 1877	Horace Alfred Rowlett Eliza Sandercock	Horace Alfred Rowlett Eliza Sandercock 💍 1877/1430	Bachelor Spinster	Porter Servant	25 21	Opawa Opawa	18 Months In the Opawa 4 Months Church	Church	77/1380		07 June 1877	Rev. E.J. Oustonbelly
4559	07 June 1877	John Stewart Ellen Matilda Cockle	John Stewart Ellen Matilda Cockle 💍 1877/2647	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	36 22	Waimakiriri Waimakiriri	13 Years In the Roman Catholic Church 1 Year Tram Street	[illegible]	77/2655		07 June 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4560	11 June 1877	Frank James Budd Mary Ann Searsly	Frank James Budd Mary Ann Dearsly 💍 1877/1142	Widower Spinster	Traveller	28 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Years In the Registrar Office 4 Years Christchurch	Christ Church	77/1045	Charles Shearsly, Father	11 June 1877	Registrar of Marriages W. Mairsison
4561	12 June 1877	Arthur Langford Joseph Caroline	Arthur Langford Joseph Caroline Sarah Litton Dunsford 💍 1877/1427	Bachelor	Sheep Farmer	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days Christchurch 3 days Christchurch	In St. Johns	77/1347		12 June 1877	Rev H.C.M. Watson
4562	12 June 1877	James Galletly Sarah Litton Dunsford		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 22	Christchurch Christchurch	7 months Christchurch 3 days In the house of Rallara	Rev C. Fraser	77/2656		12 June 1877	Rev C. Fraser
4563	13 June 1877	George Reeve Catherine White	George Hawker Catherine Cheeseman 💍 1877/2565 George Baker Catherine Savory 💍 1877/1159	Widower Spinster	Fisherman	28 25	Christchurch Christchurch	2 Years Christchurch 4 days In the Wesleyan Church Halle	Tamatu Jesse		Greens, Father	13 June 1877	Rev I. a. Taylor
4564	13 June 1877	Samuel John Heygall Elizabeth Green	Samuel Lacey Elizabeth Obren 💍 1877/1459	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	27 20	Christchurch Weedon	14 days In St Johns Ashburton 3 weeks Weedon Ellesmere	Christ Church	77/1348		13 June 1877	Rev H.C.M. Watson
4565	13 June 1877	William Findlay Maria Julia Rae	William Findlay Clara Gambling 💍 1877/2650	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker Dressmaker	24 28	Christchurch Christchurch	9 days Christchurch 18 months In the house	Rev C. Fraser	77/2657		13 June 1877	Rev C. Fraser
4566	13 June 1877	Henry Fraser Maria Barnaby	Hey Fraser Maria Barnaby 💍 1877/2129	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman Servant	25 26	Christchurch The Avonside	7 weeks Tram Street 144 Yard der St hulles Church	Christ Church	77/2094		13 June 1877	Rev E. a. Lingard

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).