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 726

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
5208	19 December 1878	William Broughton Sarah Emma Goers	William Broughton Sarah Emma Goss 💍 1878/2891	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 21	Merivale Springfield Road	6 Years In the house of Mr Goers	Security	78/2911		19 December 1878	Rev. J. Elmslie
5209	19 December 1878	Ben Sowle Florence Phyllis Helm	Ben Dowle Florence Phyllis Nelson 💍 1878/3256	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Dressmaker	23 22	Sydenham Christchurch	14 Years In the house of Church	Security	78/3310		19 December 1878	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
5210	20 December 1878	Harry Daniel Manning Ann Ann Oppenheim	Harry Daniel Manning Ada Ann Oppenheim 💍 1878/2893	Widower Spinster		40 22	Christchurch Christchurch	22 Years In the house of Chapel	Security	78/2913		20 December 1878	Rev. C. Dallaston
5211	21 December 1878	Robert McFarlane Sarah Upton	Robert McFarlane Sarah Upton 💍 1878/2866	Widower Spinster	Grocer	35 26	Christchurch Christchurch	19 Years In the house of Church	Security	78/2900		21 December 1878	Rev. E. A. Lingard
5212	21 December 1878	Arthur Makeig Eliza Rose	Arthur Makeig Eliza Rose 💍 1878/2865	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	33 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Martins Church	78/2899		21 December 1878	Rev. E. A. Lingard
5213	21 December 1878	George Bush Bessie Harris Denike	George Bush Bessie Harris Jenkin Hope Rogers 💍 1878/2877	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 18	Sydenham Sydenham	8 months In the house of Authorised Chapel	Security	78/2922	Thomas Rogers, Father	21 December 1878	Rev. S. Macfarlane
5214	23 December 1878	Joseph William Morshead Sophia Barnett	Joseph William Morshead Sophia Barnett 💍 1878/2876	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 24	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	6 Years In the Wesleyan Church	Security	78/2921		23 December 1878	Rev. J. A. Taylor
5215	23 December 1878	George White Annie Organs	George White Annie Hoggan 💍 1878/2811 Henry White Annie Paton 💍 1878/1189	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 Years In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	Security	78/2855		23 December 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
5216	24 December 1878	William McKern Mary Ann Scott	William McKeown Mary Ann Scott 💍 1878/2814	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker Seamstress	24 24	Sydenham Sydenham	4 Years In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	Security	78/2858		24 December 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
5217	24 December 1878	Herbert Hannous Caroline Habgood	Herbert Hannam Caroline Haberfield 💍 1878/2817	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	24 19	Rangiora Addington	2 months In the house of Rev. J. S. Smalley	Security	78/2861	Elucia Habgood, Mother	24 December 1878	Rev. J. S. Smalley
5218	24 December 1878	William Gemmell Jessie Colville Leslie		Bachelor Spinster	Cooper	26 [illegible]	Lyttelton Christchurch	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser 4 days	Security	78/2856	Jessie Colville Leslie, Mother	24 December 1878	Rev. C. Fraser

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).