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 717

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
5131	2 October 1878	Jacob Pearson Emma Timmins	Jacob Pearson Emma Timmins 💍 1878/2835	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Servant	24 17	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/2879	There is no person whose consent is required	2 October 1878	Registrar of Marriages, Markham
5132	2 October 1878	James Knot Charlotte Marion Alport	James Knox Charlotte Marion Alport 💍 1878/3248	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant [illegible]	133 26	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 25 years	St Johns Church, Christchurch	78/3307		2 October 1878	Rev H. C. M. Watson
5133	2 October 1878	Alexander Macgregor Jane Caine	Alexander McGregor Jane Caine 💍 1878/2852	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	26 30	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 3 years	St Michaels Church, Christchurch	78/2872		2 October 1878	Rev R. S. Penny
5134	2 October 1878	William Tucker Hurst Eliza Pain	William John Hurst Eliza Prisk 💍 1878/2820	Widower Spinster	Brickmaker	31	Opawa Opawa	3 years	In the Opawa Church	78/2863	Joseph Pain, Father	2 October 1878	Rev J. S. [illegible]
5135	3 October 1878	John Thomas Carr Charlotte Pritchard	John Thomas Carr Charlotte Pritchard 💍 1878/2836	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Waitress	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	8 months 8 months	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/2880		3 October 1878	Registrar of Marriages, Markham
5136	3 October 1878	Thomas Kerr Georgina Richards	Thomas Kerr Georgina Nicholls 💍 1878/2855	Bachelor Spinster	Coalman	29	Christchurch Christchurch	8 months 4 years	In St Michaels Church, Christchurch	78/2875		3 October 1878	Rev R. S. Penny
5137	7 October 1878	Carl Schulte Adelaide Maria [illegible]	Carl Schulz Adelaide Maria Matthews 💍 1878/2854	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	27 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 9 months	St Michaels Church, Christchurch	78/2874	John [illegible], Father	7 October 1878	Rev R. S. Penny
5138	7 October 1878	Thomas Arthur Browne Emily Gertrude Case	Thomas Anthony Browne Maskew Emily Gertrude Cave 💍 1878/2850	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 18	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 8 months	In St Michaels Church, Christchurch	78/2874	Alfred Case, Father	7 October 1878	Rev R. S. Penny
5139	10 October 1878	Edward Evans Fanny Gardiner	Edward Evans Fanny Chadwick Baxter 💍 1878/3200	Bachelor Spinster	Householder	32	Heathcote Valley Christchurch	22 years 5 years	In the Recreation Church	78/3206		10 October 1878	Rev C. Bowen
5140	12 October 1878	Charles Frank Button Margaret Haunch		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 19	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 5 years	In the home of Mrs Haunch, Beardsley	78/2842	Elisha Beardsley, Father	12 October 1878	Rev C. Fraser
5141	16 October 1878	Barwise Metcalfe Rose Ericsson	Barnise Metcalfe Rose Greerson 💍 1878/2825	Bachelor Spinster	Estate Agent	47 31	Ashburton Arowside	16 months 4 years	In the Ashburton Church	78/2865		16 October 1878	Rev H. Glasson

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).