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 0695

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
4910	1 April 1878	Richard Bowen Louisa Jane Middleton	Richard Bowen Louisa Jane Middleton 💍 1878/1243	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Servant	21 23	Christchurch Halkam	19 years 4 years	In the house of Mrs Mason, Kilmore Street	78/1266		1 April 1878	R. C. Fraser, Pres
4911	1 April 1878	John Dunlop Elizabeth Marian Scrivener	John Dunlop Elizabeth Marian Scriviner 💍 1878/1245	Bachelor Widow	Photographer	34 34	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 5 years	In the Congress Church	78/1250		1 April 1878	Rev. H. Glasson, Congl
4912	2 April 1878	George Edward Power Ann Baker	George Edward Power Annie Baker 💍 1878/2149	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	26 18	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 8 years	In St Michael's Church	78/1237	Father	2 April 1878	R. S. S. Penny
4913	2 April 1878	William Drew Isabella Kirkwood	William Drew Isabella Kirkwood 💍 1878/1214	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Servant	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	In St Pauls Church, Christchurch	78/1237		2 April 1878	R. S. S. Penny
4914	5 April 1878	George Russell Elizabeth Ball	George Russell Elizabeth Ball 💍 1878/2150	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	34 21	Lincoln Lincoln	3 months 3 months	In the Church of St Michael	78/2102		5 April 1878	R. S. S. Penny
4915	6 April 1878	Edward Cliffe Mary Elizabeth Cotton	Edward Cliffe Mary Elizabeth Cotton 💍 1878/1230	Bachelor Widow	Painter Servant	33 31	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 3 months	In St Lukes Church	78/1229		6 April 1878	Rev. H. A. Pascoe
4916	6 April 1878	William Frost Eliza Brimmock	William Frost Eliza Dimmick 💍 1878/1268	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 22	New Brighton New Brighton	14 years 4 years	Registrar Office, Christchurch	78/1293		6 April 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M. Packerson
4917	8 April 1878	Numeruff Skews Susannah Heiden		Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	26 18	Springston Springston	6 months 18 years	In the Registrar's Office	78/1292	Thomas Henderson, Father	8 April 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M. Packerson
4918	9 April 1878	Frederick Louis Friedmann Eliza Ann Pierce	Frederick Louis Friedman Eliza Ann Pierce 💍 1878/1203	Bachelor Spinster	Bailiff	33 25	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 5 days	In the Merivale Church, Lyttelton	78/1266		9 April 1878	Rev. T. Flavell, Cong
4919	9 April 1878	James Hampton Frances Sarah McMullen	James Hampton Frances S McMullan 💍 1878/1246	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	29 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 years	In the house of Ashworth, Tuam Street	78/1268		9 April 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
4920	15 April 1878	Edwin Crosswell Leila Elizabeth Ross	Edwin Mossman Leila Elizabeth Roe 💍 1878/1227	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	32 25	Halswell Christchurch	4 years 4 years	In the Wesleyan Church, Durham Street	78/1226		15 April 1878	Rev. H. Insley, Wes

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).