Intentions to Marry, 1878

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840390, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, March 5 2025

Page 683

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1878

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
4797	2 January 1878	Harry Panwell Annie Gould	Harry Pannell Annie Gould 💍 1878/580	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/539		2 January 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M. Marchison
4798	3 January 1878	Charles Ires Elizabeth Granden	Charles Trass Elizabeth Warden 💍 1878/581 Charles Griffin Elizabeth Deane 💍 1878/530 Charles Hansen Elizabeth Davie 💍 1878/2100 Charles Haslet Elizabeth Jordon 💍 1878/1711 Charles Kerse Elizabeth Potter 💍 1878/1296 Charles Wise Elizabeth Johnston 💍 1878/1287 Charles Scarlett Elizabeth Johnson 💍 1878/3294 Charles Willet Elizabeth Reynolds 💍 1878/575 Charles Stevens Elizabeth Jane Trezise 💍 1878/2474	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker [illegible]	24 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 25 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/540		3 January 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M. Marchison
4799	5 January 1878	Thomas Cooper Harriet Harrison	Thomas Cooper Harriet Harrison 💍 1878/543	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright [illegible]	22 22	St Albans St Albans	16 years 16 years	St Albans	78/524	Father of Harriet Harrison	5 January 1878	Rev. S. Crump.
4800	7 January 1878	Charles Williams Ann [illegible] [illegible]		Bachelor Spinster	Mariner [illegible]	37 23	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 4 days	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/542		7 January 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M. Marchison
4801	7 January 1878	Henry Foster Ruth Kitto	Henry Foster Ruth Kitto 💍 1878/519	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor Servant	22 20	Riccarton Riccarton	22 years 5 years	In the house of Rev. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/600		7 January 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
4802	8 January 1878	Robert Evans Mary Ann Bule	Robert Evans Mary Ann Bull 💍 1878/582	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/544		8 January 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M. Marchison
4803	8 January 1878	Henry Windle Catherine O'Connell	Henry Windle Catherine O'Connell 💍 1878/62	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 18	Lincoln Lincoln	1 year 2 months	Roman Catholic Church	78/541		8 January 1878	Rev. J. C. Chervier
4804	9 January 1878	Alfred Selanders Lydia Gould	Alfred Idanders OHerson Lydia Gould 💍 1878/3379	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer [illegible]	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 20 years	Wesleyan Church, Oamaru	78/525	George Gould, Father	9 January 1878	Rev. W. Morley
4805	10 January 1878	Robert Winthrop Eliza Benny	Robert Winthrop Ellen Benny 💍 1878/515	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent [illegible]	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 7 days	Christchurch	78/496		10 January 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
4806	11 January 1878	Frederick Bailie Louisa Mary Anthony	Frederic Bailie Joanna Mary Anthony 💍 1878/79	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Schoolmistress	42 32	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 10 years	St Luke's Church, Christchurch	78/565		11 January 1878	Rev. H. C. Pascoe
4807	14 January 1878	Henry Perriam Rosa Waters	Henry Perriam Nora Watters 💍 1878/493	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 26	Christchurch Christchurch	2 days 5 months	Roman Catholic Church	78/494		14 January 1878	Rev. L. Ginaty

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).