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 711

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
5075	13 August 1878	Thomas Coster Rose Elizabeth Seager	Thomas Coster Rose Elizabeth Seager 💍 1878/2047	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter [illegible]	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Years [illegible]	St Michaels Church	78/1997		13 August 1878	Rev. E. G. Penny, CofE
5076	13 August 1878	Joseph Waller Fulley Martha Jane Rhodes	Joseph Walter Tulley Martha Jane Rhodes 💍 1878/2152	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Servant	24 17	Christchurch Christchurch	19 Years 4 Years	In the house of Mr. Fulley, Madras Street	78/2086	John Rhodes, Father	13 August 1878	Rev. J. Aldred, Wes
5077	13 August 1878	Thomas Freeman Fanny Poulters	Thomas Freeman Fanny Poulton 💍 1878/2135	Bachelor Widow	Gardener [illegible]	33 28	Christchurch Christchurch	4 Years 4 Years	In the Primitive Methodist Church	78/2063		13 August 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
5078	14 August 1878	Matthew Smith Elizabeth James	Matthew Smith Elizabeth James 💍 1878/2130	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Servant	24 28	Christchurch Christchurch	4 Years 2 Years	In the Methodist Church	78/2081		14 August 1878	Rev. S. Macfarlane, Prim Meth
5079	15 August 1878	Edmund Marriott [illegible] Ann [illegible]		Bachelor [illegible]	Surveyor [illegible]	38 [illegible]	Christchurch [illegible]	20 Years [illegible]	St Joseph Street	[illegible]		15 August 1878	Rev. C. Bowen, CofE
5080	16 August 1878	Theodore Awards Emily Aimyes		Bachelor Spinster	Builder [illegible]	26 30	Christchurch Riccarton	2 Years Riccarton	Church	78/2241		16 August 1878	Registrar of Marriages, Christchurch
5081	16 August 1878	John Gray Ann de France		Bachelor Widow	Butcher Housemaker	25 43	Christchurch Christchurch	1 Year 18 Months	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/2022		16 August 1878	Registrar of Marriages, Christchurch
5082	17 August 1878	James Gibson Keria Lockwood	James Gibson Kezia Lockwood 💍 1878/2069	Widower Spinster	Traveller [illegible]	46 24	Christchurch Christchurch	9 Months 10 days	Merivale Church	78/2021		17 August 1878	Rev. T. Flavell, CofE
5083	17 August 1878	Alexander Balfour Sophia Freitta Redder	Alexander Bathhurst Coffin Sophia Doretta Redder 💍 1878/2136	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 19	Cashmere Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In the house	[illegible]	John Frederick Redder, Father	17 August 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
5084	19 August 1878	Christopher John Redder Phebe Morrow	Christopher Inkster Phebe Morrow 💍 1878/2137	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 25	Christchurch Merivale	1 Week 5 Months	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	78/2064		19 August 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
5085	19 August 1878	Michael Moylan Mary Welch	Michael Moylen Mary Walsh 💍 1878/2357 Michael Boyle Mary Witkouski 💍 1878/1196	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Months 4 Years	Catholic Church	78/2340		19 August 1878	Rev. L. Ginich, RC

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).