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 721

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
5175	26 November 1878	Alexander Keir Isabella Anderson	Alexander Keir Isabella Anderson 💍 1878/2829	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 18	Halkett Halkett	12 Years 12 Years	In the Scotch Church	78/2849	John Anderson, Father	26 November 1878	Rev C Fraser, Pres
5176	27 November 1878	Peter Johns White Elizabeth Shaw	Peter Johnson Elizabeth Shannon 💍 1878/3312	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	38 19	Riccarton Riccarton	10 Years 8 months	In the Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	78/3349	With Z. Loving's authority	27 November 1878	Rev L. Ginaty
5177	27 November 1878	Edward Brewer Clara Watts	Edward Brewer Wethy Clara Watts 💍 1878/2889	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	11 months 4 years	In the Merivale Church	78/2909		27 November 1878	Rev T. Flavell
5178	28 November 1878	William Thomas Askins Elizabeth Ann Baker	William Thomas Wilson Elizabeth Ann Bannan 💍 1879/581 William Thomas Hobbs Elizabeth Ann Atkinson 💍 1878/2857 William Jenkins Elizabeth Ann Mason 💍 1878/2599	Bachelor Spinster	Guard	23 23	Sydenham Christchurch	5 years 4 years	In St Michaels Church	78/2897		28 November 1878	Rev 2. G. Penny
5179	28 November 1878	Frank Baker Susan Levithick	Frank Baker Susan Trevithick Williams 💍 1878/2860	Widower Widow	Tailor Servant	40 38	St. Albans St. Albans	8 months 8 months	In the Wesleyan Church	78/2904		28 November 1878	Rev W. Morley
5180	29 November 1878	Charles Gould Catherine Thorne Ballantyne	Charles Gould Catharine Thorne Ballantyne 💍 1878/2868	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 3 weeks	Durham Street Wesleyan Church	78/2902		29 November 1878	Rev W. Morley
5181	30 November 1878	James Wallace Mary Elizabeth Kime	James Wallace Mary Elizabeth Kime 💍 1878/2822	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 20	Springston Springston	6 years 5 days	Durham Street, Southbrook	78/2863	Mrs Kime, Father	30 November 1878	Rev J. A. Taylor
5182	2 December 1878	David George Riches Jessie Wagstaff	Daniel George Niches Jessie Wagstaff 💍 1878/2887	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	33 25	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 3 days	In the Avonside	78/2997	Father	2 December 1878	Rev T. Flavell
5183	2 December 1878	John Edward Hundley Martha Martin	John Edward Hurdley Martha Martin 💍 1878/1412	Bachelor Spinster	Signalman	22 22	Heathcote Valley Heathcote Valley	6 weeks 11 months	St. Mary's Church	78/3378		2 December 1878	Rev C. J. Merton
5184	2 December 1878	Isidore Schware Bessie Davis	Isidore Schwartz Bessie Davis 💍 1878/2823	Bachelor Spinster	Tobacconist	29 20	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 5 years	In the Synagogue, Christchurch	78/2866	Leah Davis, Mother	2 December 1878	Rev I. Zachariah, Heb
5185	2 December 1878	Thomas Taylor Annie Liversage	Thames Taylor Annie Levermere McDougall 💍 1878/3250	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 10 years	In St John's Church, Christchurch	78/3308		2 December 1878	Rev H. C. M. Watson, CofE

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).