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 701

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
4976	22 May 1878	George Freeman Isabella Stewart Paterson	George Freeman Isabella Stewart Paterson 💍 1878/1259	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 20	Addington Christchurch	8 Years 14 Years	In the house of Mr Paterson, Cashel Street	78/1283	Patrick Stewart Paterson, Father	22 May 1878	R. C. Fraser
4977	23 May 1878	James McDowell Margaret Jane McDowell	James McDowell Margaret Jane McIver 💍 1878/1260	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 18	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/1284	Margaret Atkinson, Mother	23 May 1878	R. C. Fraser
4978	25 May 1878	William Garrett Lucy Duncan	William Garrett Lucy Duncan 💍 1878/1261	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 24	Hornby Road Hornby Road	4 Years 10 months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/1285		25 May 1878	R. C. Fraser
4979	27 May 1878	James Stripes Margaret Brown	James Wright Margaret Brown 💍 1878/1262 James Gibbs Sarah Brown 💍 1878/2763	Widower Spinster	Farmer	62 37	Riccarton Riccarton	26 Years 1 Month	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/1286		27 May 1878	R. C. Fraser
4980	28 May 1878	Martin Henriksen Emma Pepperell	Martin Henrikson Emma Pepperell 💍 1878/1206	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	35 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 Years 4 Years	In the [illegible], Jurviale	78/1221		28 May 1878	R. F. Flavell
4981	29 May 1878	John Luck Annie Rimmington	John Lusk Annie Rannington 💍 1878/1263	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 19	Christchurch Christchurch	21 Years 14 Years	Church	78/1287	Charles Rimmington, Father	29 May 1878	R. C. Fraser
4982	29 May 1878	Edwin Blakeway Betsy Moffat	Edwin Blakeway Betsy Moffatt 💍 1878/1234	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	27 20	Lincoln Riccarton	6 months 2 Years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/1249	Mary Hamilton, Mother	29 May 1878	R. C. Bowen
4983	29 May 1878	George Wilson Boileau Harriet Counter	George Wilson Boileau Harriet Molora Counter 💍 1878/1264	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Years 3 months	Church	78/1288		29 May 1878	R. C. Fraser
4984	31 May 1878	David Lumsden Catherine Elizabeth Highley	David Lumsden Catherine Elizabeth Flight 💍 1878/1222	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	30 20	Christchurch Christchurch	6 Years 13 Years	St. John's Church, Christchurch	78/1244	Elizabeth Highley, Mother	31 May 1878	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
4985	31 May 1878	Herman Steinburg Christina Emma Symonds	Herman Steinberg Pieremonte Olivia Emma Symonds 💍 1878/3346	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	24 18	Christchurch Christchurch	1 Year 2 Years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/1289	Henry Symonds, Father	31 May 1878	R. C. Fraser
4986	1 June 1878	William Gosnell Elizabeth Jane Boucher	William Gosnell E J Boucher 💍 1878/1265	Widower Spinster	Bookbinder Dressmaker	54 36	Christchurch Christchurch	15 Years 10 Years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/1290		1 June 1878	R. C. Fraser

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).