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 687

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
4841	4 February 1878	William Hooper Mary Ann Amy	William Charles Hooper Mary Ann Any 💍 1878/479	Bachelor Spinster	Secretary Laundress	32 29	Waltham Waltham	1 year 4 years	By the Scotch Church, Tuam Street	78/459		4 February 1878	R. C. Fraser, Pres
4842	4 February 1878	Michael O'Connor Kate Lynch	Michael O'Connor Kate Lynch 💍 1878/70	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 23	Shands Track Shands Track	18 months 8 months	In the Roman Catholic Church	78/561		4 February 1878	R. J. C. Cherrier, RC
4843	6 February 1878	Henry Cunningham Phebe Jane Cavell	Henry Cunningham Phoebe Jane Cavanagh 💍 1878/82	Bachelor Widow	Businessman Laundress	22 24	Avonside Addington	3 years 18 months	In St Lukes Church	78/568		6 February 1878	Rev. H. C. Pascoe
4844	8 February 1878	John Steenson Sophia Jane Martin	William John Dickson Sophia Jane Martin 💍 1878/527	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer	34 24	Christchurch Addington	4 years 18 months	In the house of Mr. Michael	78/507		8 February 1878	R. C. Fraser
4845	8 February 1878	George Edward Hulme Margaret Rainie	George Edward Milner Margaret Raine 💍 1878/565 George William Bush Margaret Mayne 💍 1878/2947 George Edward Bellamy Margaret Agnes Grimstone 💍 1879/306 George Carter Margaret Spence 💍 1878/2300	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Dressmaker	34 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 19 years	In the Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/547		8 February 1878	J. M. Anderson
4846	9 February 1878	Henry Faulkner Mary Susannah James	Henry Faukner Mary Susans 💍 1878/492	Bachelor Widow	Tailor Dressmaker	36 30	Christchurch Tai Tapu	7 months 7 months	In the house of Rev. R. C. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/460		9 February 1878	R. C. Fraser, Pres
4847	9 February 1878	James O'Neil Helen Coakley	James O'Malley Ellen Coakley 💍 1878/499	Bachelor Spinster	Sergeant of Police	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	In the Roman Catholic Church	78/480		9 February 1878	R. L. Ginaty
4848	9 February 1878	William Lewis Mary Ann Williams	William Lewis Mary Ann Williams 💍 1878/528 Demetriey Nicolas Mangos Mary Ann Williams 💍 1878/2724	Bachelor Widow	Laborer Laundress	34 33	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	78/508		9 February 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
4849	11 February 1878	Edwin Featherstone Annie Greygoose		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 25	Christchurch Addington	10 years 2 years	In the house, Tuam Street	78/466		11 February 1878	R. C. Fraser, Pres
4850	11 February 1878	William Henry Coulson Robina Holt	William Henry Conlan Robina Watt 💍 1878/480	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	In the house, Tuam Street	78/466		11 February 1878	R. C. Fraser, Pres
4851	12 February 1878	Michael Charles O'Connell Isabella Green	Michael Charles OConnell Isabella Grubb 💍 1878/579	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	24 17	Christchurch Lyttelton	7 years 7 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	78/538	John Green, Father	12 February 1878	R. 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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).