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 691

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
4885	11 March 1878	Alexander Giles Janet Stalker	Alexander Gillespie Janet Harper 💍 1878/505 Alexander Wilson Janet Cameron 💍 1878/1568	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	50 35	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In the house, Christchurch	78/465		11 March 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
4886	12 March 1878	Alexander Burnett Christina Johnston	Alexander Burnet Christina Johnston 💍 1878/552	Bachelor Spinster	Nurseryman	26 23	Opawa Christchurch	2 Years 5 Years	In the Presbyterian Church	78/533		12 March 1878	Rev. J. Elmslie, Pres
4887	13 March 1878	Arthur Cribb Nartine [illegible] Elwell	Arthur Cribb Carolina Elizabeth Brunsdon 💍 1878/506	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 19	Lincoln Christchurch	13 Years 5 Years	In the house, Christchurch	78/466	Thomas Brunsden	13 March 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
4888	13 March 1878	Rees Jones Travellers Annie Martin	Rees Jones Walters Annie Martin 💍 1878/544	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	15 Years 19 Years	In the house, Christchurch	78/524		13 March 1878	Rev. H. Glasson, Congl
4889	14 March 1878	Robert Smyth Margaret McDonald	Robert Smith Margaret McDonald 💍 1878/507	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	9 Years 2 Years	In the house, Christchurch	78/467		14 March 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
4890	14 March 1878	Paul Hignard Fairclough Margaret Reid Aicken	Paul Wynyard Fairclough Margaret Reid Aiken 💍 1878/550	Bachelor Spinster	Minister	25 21	Christchurch Springston	3 days 10 Years	In the house, Leeston	78/531		14 March 1878	Rev. J. A. Taylor
4891	14 March 1878	Richard Wolfe Turnbull Mary Ann Surridge	Richard Wolfe Turnbull Mary Ann Burbery 💍 1878/76	Bachelor Spinster	Woodturner Servant	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	14 Years 12 Years	In the Methodist Free Church	78/562		14 March 1878	Rev. S. Macfarlane, United
4892	14 March 1878	James Hayes Theresa O'Halloran	James Hayes Theresa O'Niel 💍 1878/536	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 25	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 4 Months	St Michaels Church	78/493		14 March 1878	Rev. E. G. Penny, CofE
4893	14 March 1878	Mary Sutton William John Whitley		Bachelor Spinster	General Servant Bootmaker	20 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Years 4 Years	In the house, Christchurch			14 March 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
4894	16 March 1878	Paul Miller Sarah Hannah [illegible]	Paul Willcox Sarah Hannah Mitchell 💍 1878/508	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	22 18	Christchurch Christchurch	1 Week 4 Years	In the house, Christchurch	78/468	Has authority of person whose consent is required	16 March 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
4895	16 March 1878	Joseph Scailet Mary Heilling	Joseph Scarlet Mary Hickling 💍 1878/570	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	37 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 Years 4 Years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/552		16 March 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M. Anderson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).