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 608

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
4534	15 May 1877	John Richmond Emma Morris	John Richmond Emma Morris 💍 1877/1098	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman Cook	23 20	Nr. Merivale Christchurch	Month 2 Years	In the Merivale Church	77/1004	15 May 1877	Rev. F. Flavell
4535	15 May 1877	Frederick Clark Mary Ann William	Frederick Clark Mary Ann Williams 💍 1877/1087	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 Years 3 Years	In St. Paul's Church	77/1006	15 May 1877	R. E. Luyard
4536	16 May 1877	Johan Klink Mary Ann Crocker	Johan Klink Mary Ann Crocker 💍 1877/1129	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Farmer	28 30	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	4 years 10 years	In the Wesleyan Church Durham	77/1026	16 May 1877	Rev. W. Morley
4537	16 May 1877	Julius Emcel Reiter Edith Louisa Blake	Julius Emeel Reiter Edith Louisa Blake 💍 1877/3018	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	31 21	Christchurch Templeton	4 years 14 years	In St. Michael's Church	77/3054	16 May 1877	Rev. E. G. Penny
4538	16 May 1877	Charles Janson Maggie Condon	Charles Davidson Maggie Condon 💍 1877/1120	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 3 years	In the Registrar Office	77/1040	16 May 1877	Registrar of Marriages M Parkerson
4539	17 May 1877	James Douglas Esther Bailey	James Douglas Esther Bailey 💍 1877/1106	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	35 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 5 days	In the Scotch Church Amberley	77/7002	17 May 1877	Rev. Elmslie
4540	18 May 1877	John Beswick Eliza Annie Hawdrick	John Beswick Eliza Annie Nankivell 💍 1877/2642	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 21 years	In the Scotch Church	77/2650	18 May 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4541	18 May 1877	Bernard Pierre Hallé Elizabeth Sarah Jones	Bernard Pierre Halle Elizabeth Sarah Jones 💍 1877/1121	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Dressmaker	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 6 months	In the Registrar Office	77/1041	18 May 1877	Registrar of Marriages M Parkerson
4542	22 May 1877	Thomas Irwin Grace Gregg	Thomas Irwin Grace Gregg 💍 1877/2643	Bachelor Widow	Run Manager Housekeeper	41 40	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the House	77/2651	22 May 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4543	23 May 1877	William Sawyer Sarah Card	William Sawyer Sarah Kirr Will 💍 1877/2644	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	35 34	Lincoln Lincoln	5 years 5 years	In the House	77/2652	23 May 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4544	25 May 1877	Charles William Hooper Margaret Dalton	Charles Butler Margaret Hamilton 💍 1877/2858	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	35 31	Christchurch Christchurch	5 weeks 2 years	In St. John's Church Akaroa		25 May 1877	R. H. E. M. Watson

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).