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 707

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
5042	5 July 1878	James Wilder Fuller Susan Hughes	James Wilder Fuller Susannah Hughes 💍 1878/2105	Widower Widow	Cordwainer Laundress	60 55	Christchurch Christchurch	21 Years 26 Years	In the house of R. C. Freer, Tuam Street	78/2054		8 July 1878	R. C. Freer, Pres
5043	9 July 1878	Edward Clement Ellen Doyle	Edward Charles Clement Ellen Doyle 💍 1878/2063	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St Michaels Church, Christchurch	78/1991		9 July 1878	R. S. Penny, CofE
5044	9 July 1878	William James Hoerling Mary Ann Chilton	William James Hocking Mary Jane Chilton 💍 1878/2064	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	30 38	Fendalton Fendalton	3 Years 3 Years	In the Christchurch Church	78/1992		9 July 1878	R. S. Penny, CofE
5045	9 July 1878	James McCrackin Louisa Fawcett	James McCracken Louisa Fawcett 💍 1878/2088	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Servant	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 Years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/2014		9 July 1878	Registrar of Marriages, Mandeville
5046	11 July 1878	Samuel Tait Emily Brisons	Samuel Tait Emily Vinson 💍 1878/2106	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Servant	32 30	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of R. C. Freer, Tuam Street	78/2054		11 July 1878	R. C. Freer, Pres
5047	12 July 1878	Egerton Ninnis Susannah Greenfield	Egerton Ninnis Susannah Greenfield 💍 1878/2089	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	32 36	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 2 Years	In the Registrars Office Christchurch	78/2018		12 July 1878	Registrar of Marriages, J W Paulsen
5048	13 July 1878	John Davies Susannah Harrietts	John Davies Suzannah Main Harley 💍 1878/2107	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	25 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of R. C. Freer, Tuam Street	78/2058	Richard Harley, Father	13 July 1878	R. C. Freer, Pres
5049	15 July 1878	William Mustauley Cobb Fanny Dume		Widower Spinster	Banker	44 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Years 2 Years	In the Merivale Church	78/2098		15 July 1878	R. T. Flavell, CofE
5050	19 July 1878	David Taylor Elizabeth Cumming	David Taylor Carter Elizabeth Maud Cummings 💍 1878/2162 David Kerr Elizabeth Hawkins 💍 1879/577 David Amos Elizabeth Baigent 💍 1878/1431	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 weeks	In the Christchurch, St Johns Church	78/2091		19 July 1878	R. H. C. Watson, CofE
5051	23 July 1878	John Ackerman Jessie Elizabeth Soper	John Ackerman Jessie Elizabeth Soper 💍 1878/2066	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	24 18	Christchurch Christchurch	5 Years 3 Years	In the St Michaels Church, Christchurch	78/1994	John Samuel Soper, Father	23 July 1878	R. S. Penny, CofE
5052	25 July 1878	Walter Lockwood Catherine Booth	Walter Lockwood Catharine Booth 💍 1878/2129	Bachelor Spinster	Minister	29 26	Christchurch Addington	14 days 12 Years	In the Free Methodist Chapel, Addington	78/2080		25 July 1878	R. S. Macfarlane, United

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).