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 714 [memo]

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
5099	31 August 1878	Caleb Lusty Catherine Campbell	Caleb Lusty Catherine Campbell 💍 1878/2117	Bachelor Spinster	Wool Carder Weaver	23 19	Waltham, Christchurch Waltham, Christchurch	1 week 1 week	In the house of R C Fraser, Tuam Street	78/2069	William Campbell Father	31 August 1878	Rev C Fraser, Pres
5099	31 August 1878	Henry Thomas Shepherd Catherine Campbell		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Weaver	35 19	West Melton Methven	15 years 1 week	In the house of Mr C. Fraser	78/2070	William Campbell, Father	31 August 1878	R. C. Fraser
5100	3 September 1878	John Kemp Mary Dillon	John Kemp Agnes Jane Jamieson 💍 1878/2049	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 22	West Melton West Melton	5 years 15 years	In the house of Mr C. Fraser	78/2071		3 September 1878	R. C. Fraser
5101	4 September 1878	John Alexander Duncan Agnes Jane Jamieson	John Kemp Agnes Jane Jamieson 💍 1878/2049	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Teacher	32 19	Christchurch Addington	6 years 15 years	St Michaels Church	78/1999	Samuel Jamieson, Father	4 September 1878	Rev E. G. Penny
5102	5 September 1878	William Summers Emily Hill		Widower Spinster	Civil Service Officer	45 21	Avonside Christchurch	3 weeks 15 years	In the house of Mr Hill	78/2072		5 September 1878	R. C. Fraser
5103	5 September 1878	James Rew Sarah French Bright		Bachelor Widow	Miller	35 49	Christchurch Avonside	5 years 2 years	North Belt	78/3214		5 September 1878	Rev H. Glasson
5104	6 September 1878	Charles Sheppard Elizabeth Louisa Lucas	James Rew Elizabeth Louisa Lucas 💍 1878/2081	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	26 23	Worcester Christchurch	14 years 14 years	In the house of Mr W. S. King	78/2032		6 September 1878	Rev J. Stack
5105	7 September 1878	William Pender Rose Mary Rawlinson		Widower Spinster	Sawyer	42 19	Christchurch Woolston	4 years 6 years	In the Wesleyan Church	78/2009	John Rawlinson, Father	7 September 1878	Rev W. Morley
5106	9 September 1878	Andrew Scott Philippa Ruddle	Andrew Scott Eliza McIlroy 💍 1878/3388	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 32	Papanui Christchurch	6 years 6 weeks	In the house of Mr C. Fraser	78/2074		9 September 1878	R. C. Fraser
5107	9 September 1878	R. C. LeRoy Eliza		Spinster	Servant	26	Papanui	2 years	Church	78/2109		9 September 1878	Rev F. G. Brittain

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).