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 719

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
5153	1 November 1878	Stephen O'Brien Bridget Ellen Egan	Stephen OBrien Bridget Glynn 💍 1878/3296	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 26	Waltham Waltham	1 year 1 week	Roman Catholic Church	78/335	[illegible]	1 November 1878	Rev L. Ginaty
5154	1 November 1878	Adolphus Harry Morris Mary Ann Cooper	Adolphus Harry Morris Mary Ann Cooper 💍 1878/2819	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	21 23	Waltham Christchurch	4 months 5 years	In the house Christchurch	78/2845	[illegible]	1 November 1878	Rev C Fraser
5155	2 November 1878	James Doling Mary Brian	James Doling Mary McBrien 💍 1878/3304	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Servant	36 19	Papanui Road Christchurch	2 years 6 months	Roman Catholic Church	78/334	There is no person in New Zealand having authority	2 November 1878	Rev L. Ginaty
5156	5 November 1878	Alfred Thomas Cox Helen Collard	Alfred Thomas Cook Helen Collard 💍 1878/2856	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	24 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 1 year	St Michaels Church	78/2843	[illegible]	5 November 1878	Rev H. B. Penny
5157	8 November 1878	Alfred Hudson Elizabeth Daly	Alfred Hudson Elizabeth Daly 💍 1878/2828	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 5 weeks	In the house of Mr Ingram Taylors Lane	78/2845		8 November 1878	Rev C Fraser
5158	8 November 1878	Thomas Wilson Rebecca Ann Nicholls	Thomas Wilson Rebecca Ann Nicholls 💍 1878/2808	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier [illegible]	24 23	Woolston Christchurch	12 years 9 years	In the house	78/2844	[illegible]	8 November 1878	Rev C Fraser
5159	8 November 1878	Charles James Burbury Eliza Green	Charles James Burberry Eliza Green 💍 1879/518	Widower Widow	Dealer Housekeeper	41 44	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 6 months	Free Methodist Church	78/415	[illegible]	8 November 1878	Rev S. [illegible]
5160	8 November 1878	William Samuel Allaway Ellen Merson	William Samuel Allaway Ellen Merson 💍 1878/2861	Bachelor Spinster	Coachpainter Servant	22 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 20 years	St Lukes Church	78/2895	[illegible]	8 November 1878	Rev S. A. Lingard
5161	8 November 1878	William John Miles Mary Ann Palmer	William John Miles Mary Ann Palmer 💍 1878/2833	Bachelor Spinster	Baker [illegible]	25 21	Waltham Avonside	3 weeks 10 years	In the Church	78/2869	[illegible]	8 November 1878	Rev H. Glasson
5162	11 November 1878	Charles Sutcliffe Laura Maria Mackett	Charles Sutcliffe Laura Maria MacKett 💍 1878/2841	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer [illegible]	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 10 years	In the Christchurch Registry Office	78/2885	[illegible]	11 November 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M Anderson
5163	11 November 1878	Francis Sinclair Elizabeth Ann Scarlett	Francis Sinclair Shearer Elizabeth Ann Scarlet 💍 1878/2826 Francis Williams Elizabeth Jane Heath 💍 1878/2713	Bachelor Spinster	Millwright Servant	35 20	Christchurch Addington	1 year 3 years	In the house Christchurch	78/2846	William Scarlett, Father	11 November 1878	Rev 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).