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 600

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar J.M.Parkinson

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
4463	March 21 1877	Alfred Moir Annie Lenard	Alfred Moir Annie Lenard 💍 1877/512	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	24 19	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 5 months	In the Registrar's Office	77/420	Bridget Lenard mother	March 21 1877	Registrar of Marriages J.M.Parkinson
4464	March 22 1877	William Dennison Catherine Chambers	William Dennison Catherine Chambers 💍 1877/1495	Widower Spinster	Moulder	38 33	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of Rev Fraser	77/421		March 22 1877	Rev Fraser
4465	March 22 1877	Alexander Turnbull Janet Gilbertson	Alexander Turnbull Janet Gilbertson 💍 1877/2630	Bachelor Spinster	Porter Servant	25 23	Addington Christchurch	1 year 6 months	In the house of Rev Fraser	77/634		March 22 1877	Rev Fraser
4466	March 23 1877	Frederick Snowdon Emma Harrop	Frederick Snowdon Emma Harrop 💍 1877/483	Bachelor Spinster	Guard Machinist	26 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 12 years	In the Durham Street Wesleyan Church	77/389	Thomas Harrop Father	March 23 1877	Rev W. Minley
4467	March 23 1877	Albert Hancock Mary Alexander	Albert Hancock Mary Ann Alexander 💍 1877/1085	Bachelor Spinster	Soapboiler	25 21	New Town Christchurch	10 years 7 years	In St Lukes Church	77/1005		March 23 1877	Rev & le. Lingard
4468	March 26 1877	William Round Martha Morse	William Round Martha Morse 💍 1877/462	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	21 20	Waltham Waltham	9 years	In the Opawa Church	77/368	Thomas Morse Father	March 26 1877	Rev S.J.Chinnery-deley
4469	March 27 1877	Thomas Harrison Sarah Finlay	Thomas Harrison Sarah Finlay 💍 1877/1496	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days	In the house of Rev Fraser	77/422		March 27 1877	Rev C Fraser
4470	March 27 1877	Henry Petrie Isabella Jack	George Petrie Isabella Jack 💍 1877/1105	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	24 29	Christchurch Bingsland	1 year	In the house of Mr Tullock	77/1001		March 27 1877	Rev I. Elmslie
4471	March 27 1877	John Halliburton Agnes Suellie	John Halliburton Agnes Smellie 💍 1877/489	Widower Spinster	Moulder	35 33	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years	In the house of Mr Suellie	77/395		March 27 1877	Rev S.J. Macfarlane
4472	March 28 1877	William Cleaver Selitia Cumberland	William Cleaver Letitia Cumberland 💍 1877/2629	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 16	Papanui Papanui	2 months	In the house of Rev Fraser	77/263	Henry Hemyng Cumberland Father	March 28 1877	Rev C Fraser
4473	March 28 1877	Joseph Allen Emily Simmons	Joseph Allen Emily Symons 💍 1877/1497	Bachelor Spinster	Latner Seamstress	35 30	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years	In the house of Rev Fraser	77/423		March 28 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).