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 697

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
4943	26 April 1878	William Barrett Bridget Maskell	William Barrett Bridget Meskell 💍 1878/2346	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 4 days	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch	78/2358	There is no person having authority to give consent	26 April 1878	Rev L. Ginaty
4944	27 April 1878	William Maker Eliza Cassidy	William Maher Eliza Cassidy 💍 1878/2347	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	23 24	St. Albans Christchurch	22 years 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch	78/2359		27 April 1878	Rev L. Ginaty
4945	27 April 1878	William Stevenson Mary Milne	William Stevenson Mary Milne 💍 1878/1608	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	26 18	Christchurch Christchurch	8 days 2 months	Hawden's Francis Milne Fendalton	78/525	Francis Milne, Father	27 April 1878	Rev H. H. Horler
4946	27 April 1878	Martin Hayes Jane Barry	Martin Hazes Jane Barry 💍 1878/2355	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	33 26	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 months	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch	78/2360		27 April 1878	Rev L. Ginaty
4947	27 April 1878	John Herbert Stevenson Eliza Henry		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Teacher	23 21	Opawa Avonside	7 years 6 years	In the Avonside Church	78/1252		27 April 1878	Rev H. Glasson
4948	29 April 1878	James Alexander Elizabeth Campbell	James Alexander Elizabeth Campbell 💍 1878/1258	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Servant	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	9 weeks 1 year	In the house of Rev C. Fraser	78/1274		29 April 1878	Rev C. Fraser
4949	29 April 1878	John Baker Norah Ryne	John Baker Norah Ryan 💍 1878/1257 John Baker Maria Bowyer 💍 1878/94 John Baker Eleanor Jenkins 💍 1878/402	Bachelor Spinster	Gardner Servant	24 21	Greenpark Tai Tapu	1 year 3 months	In the Roman Catholic Chapel Shand's Track	78/1254	There is no person having authority to give consent	29 April 1878	Rev I. E. Chervier
4950	30 April 1878	Timothy Hoeland Mary Moriarty	Timothy Hanlon Mary Moriarty 💍 1878/2366 George Moore Mary Moriarty 💍 1878/2385	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch	78/2361		30 April 1878	Rev L. Ginaty
4951	30 April 1878	Arthur Stotey Emily Hawkins	Arthur Storey Emily Hawkins 💍 1878/1273	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Servant	23 18	New Brighton Christchurch	12 years 4 years	Registrar's Office Christchurch	78/1297	Richard Williams Hawkins	30 April 1878	Registrar of Marriages, Matheson
4952	30 April 1878	Jeremiah Callaghan Johanna Dineen	Jermiah Callahan Johanna Dineen 💍 1878/2373	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	34 30	Lincoln Road Lincoln Road	12 years 3 months	In the Roman Catholic Church Christchurch	78/2362		30 April 1878	Rev L. Ginaty
4953	2 May 1878	William Frith Sophia Mary Skelton	William Frith Sophia Mary Skeltan 💍 1878/2154	Bachelor Spinster	Rivetter Machinist	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 4 years	In St. Michael's Church Christchurch	78/2105	John Skelton, Father	2 May 1878	Rev E. S. Penny

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).