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 594

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
4397	31 January 1877	John Judge Ellen Butler	John Judge Ellen Butler 💍 1877/466	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 17	Lincoln Lincoln	15 months 10 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel Shands Track	77/371	Mary Butler, mother	31 January 1877	Rev. J. C. Cherries
4398	01 February 1877	George Hamill Sarah Jane Warren	George Hamill Sarah Jane Warren 💍 1877/1471	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	25 20	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 22 months	In the Scotch Church	77/1394	There is no person having authority	01 February 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4399	01 February 1877	William Broderick Mary Jane Watson	William Broderick Mary Jane Watson 💍 1877/788	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	42 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Michael's Church	77/683		01 February 1877	Rev. E. S. Penny
4400	01 February 1877	John George Armitage Eliza Wells	John George Armitage Eliza Wells 💍 1877/502	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	25 19	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 17 years	In the Wesleyan Church	77/1385	George Wells, father	01 February 1877	Rev. W. Morley
4401	01 February 1877	James Pettit Emily Moore	James Pettit Emily Moore 💍 1877/1470	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	In the house of Mrs. Holland	77/1396		01 February 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4402	02 February 1877	Charles Matthew Gray Mary Ann Keats	Charles Matthew Gray Mary Ann Kent 💍 1877/457	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 5 years	In the Wesleyan Church	77/1363		02 February 1877	Rev. I. Berry
4403	03 February 1877	John Davis Helen Miller	John Davis Helen Miller 💍 1877/486	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle dealer	20 18	Papanui Papanui	4 years 15 years	Papanui Church	77/1392	George Miller, father	03 February 1877	Rev. F. E. Brittan
4404	05 February 1877	Alfred Thomas Harwood Mary Ann Townsend	Alfred Thomas Harwood Mary Ann Townsend 💍 1877/1472	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 21	Pebbleton Pebbleton	16 years 2 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	77/1398		05 February 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4405	05 February 1877	Rawdon Stanteuville Nicholson Mary Bowie	Rawdon Heautenville Nicholson Mary Bowie 💍 1877/1473	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 28	Christchurch Hokland	3 days 10 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	77/1399		05 February 1877	Rev. C. Fraser
4406	05 February 1877	William Potter Townsend Rosa Perkins	William Potter Townend Rosa Perkins 💍 1877/520	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	30 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 15 years	Christchurch	77/406		05 February 1877	Rev. St. C. M. Watson
4407	05 February 1877	Charles Ward Catherine Lee	Charles Ward Catherine Lee 💍 1877/515	Widower Spinster	Officer of Customs Housekeeper	57 38	Addington Addington	7 months 7 months	Christchurch	77/422		05 February 1877	Rev. H. East

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).