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 715

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
5119	20 September 1878	Robert Crawford Martha Webster	Robert Crawford Martha McAlister 💍 1878/2124	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Cook	23 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of Mr Smart	78/2046		20 September 1878	R. C. Frain
5120	21 September 1878	John Bones Ann Elizabeth Knipe	John Bones Annie Elizabeth Knapp 💍 1878/3406	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 5 years	In the house of Rev. J. Elmslie	78/2111	Father	21 September 1878	Rev. J. Elmslie, Pres
5121	23 September 1878	Examp Baucroth May Ann Ellen Moody		Bachelor Spinster	Bookmaker [illegible]	29 17	Woolston Woolston	4 years 13 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/2027	Moody, [illegible]	23 September 1878	Registrar of Marriages, W. H. A. Pascoe
5122	23 September 1878	John Henry Ridder Lena Gerten	John Henry Ridder Lena Gerken 💍 1878/2075	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	25 27	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	2 years 2 years	In the Christchurch Church	78/2871		23 September 1878	Rev. L. S. Penny, CofE
5123	23 September 1878	Valentine Kenche Agnes Smith	Valentine Keucke Agnes Gibb 💍 1878/2851	Widower Spinster	Bookmaker [illegible]	25 24	St Albans St Albans	3 weeks 3 weeks	In St Michael's Church			23 September 1878	Rev. H. Glasson, CofE
5124	23 September 1878	Henry Parrett Martha Robinson	Henry Parrett Martha Robinson 💍 1878/3184	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 18 months	In the Christchurch Church	78/3215		23 September 1878	Rev. J. W. Stack, CofE
5125	23 September 1878	Charles Frederick Constance Bowerm	Charles Frederick Napper Constance Bowern 💍 1878/2083	Bachelor Spinster	Reaper [illegible]	32 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 weeks 5 years	In St Luke's Church	78/2034		26 September 1878	Registrar of Marriages, W. H. A. Pascoe
5126	27 September 1878	William Haigh Mary Carr	William Haigh Mary Carr 💍 1878/2076	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer [illegible]	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 month 1 year	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/2028		27 September 1878	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, CofE
5127	27 September 1878	Edward Ede Clara Alsop	Edward Ede Clara Alsop 💍 1878/2126	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	22 20	Pukbleton Pukbleton	3 days 12 years	In the Pukbleton Church	78/2078	Alsop, Father	27 September 1878	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, CofE
5128	27 September 1878	John Booth Jessie Mason	John Booth Jessie Mason 💍 1878/2157	Bachelor Spinster	Importer [illegible]	31 25	Sydenham Christchurch	5 years 3 months	In the Free Methodist Church	78/2108		27 September 1878	Rev. J. White, Minister
5129	27 September 1878	Charles Stanley Catherine Ellen White	Charles Stanley Forbes Catherine Ellen White Parsons 💍 1878/2143	Bachelor Spinster	Draughtsman [illegible]	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Addington, Banks of St Albans Church	78/2095		27 September 1878	Rev. H. C. M. Watson, CofE

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).