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 725

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
519	11 December 1878	Michael Joseph Tyrus Janet Ferguson	Michael Joseph Lyons Janet Ferguson 💍 1878/3313	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 35	Waltham Waltham	3 months 3 months	Roman Catholic Church	78/3350		11 December 1878	Rev. L. Ginaty
519B	12 December 1878	William Forster Mary Ann Goldthorpe	William Forster Mary Ann Goldthorpe 💍 1878/2834	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	35 26	Christchurch Timaru	1 Year 3 weeks	Michaels Church Christchurch	78/2878		12 December 1878	Rev. E. S. Peary
519C	14 December 1878	James Long Clara Hawkins	James Long Clara Hawkins 💍 1878/2845	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 months	Registrar's Office	78/2888		14 December 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M Anderson
5200	14 December 1878	Alfred Farmer Annie Jemima Paunett	Alfred Farmer Annie Jemima Pannett 💍 1878/2878	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 25	Springston Springston	15 Years 15 Years	House of Mr Paunett	78/2923		14 December 1878	Rev. J. W. Savile
5201	16 December 1878	James Johnston Caroline Hewing	James Johnston Caroline Fleming 💍 1878/2809	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	30 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 2 years	House of J. Acliguston	78/2853		16 December 1878	Rev. C Fraser
5202	16 December 1878	Thomas Southey Josephine Harrison	Thomas Southey Baker Josephine Harriet Anne Dicken 💍 1878/3251	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	30 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St Johns Church	78/3309	Thomas Ticken, Father	16 December 1878	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
5203	17 December 1878	Joseph Partridge Mary Ann Ingham	Joseph Partridge Margaret Anne McBeatrey 💍 1878/3252	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 21	Avonside Avonside	8 Years 8 Years	St Johns Church	78/3310		17 December 1878	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
5204	18 December 1878	Samuel Knott Ellen Elizabeth Jackson	Samuel Knott Ellen Elizabeth Jackson 💍 1878/2892	Bachelor Spinster	Bottler Servant	39 25	Christchurch Christchurch	2 Years 3 months	Baptist Chapel	78/2912		18 December 1878	Rev. C Dallaston
5205	19 December 1878	Edward Elbourn Mary Roades	Edward Elborn Mary Roades 💍 1878/2810	Bachelor Spinster	Mason Servant	35 25	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 15 months	House of [illegible]	78/2864		19 December 1878	Rev. C Fraser
5206	19 December 1878	Richard Public Agnes Hardey	Richard Prebble Agnes Walker 💍 1878/3201	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 18	Prebbleton Spreydon	23 Years	St Johns Church Riccarton	78/3259	John Walker, Father	19 December 1878	Rev. C Bowen
5207	19 December 1878	James Dowling Margaret County	James Dowling Penny Margaret Conolly 💍 1878/2846 James McMillin Margaret Liddy 💍 1878/1948 James Moir Margaret McRoberts 💍 1879/173	Bachelor Spinster	Barman Servant	25 22	Addington Christchurch	3 months 15 months	Registrar's Office	78/2889		19 December 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M Anderson

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).