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 704

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1898

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
5009	15 June 1898	Thomas Hampton Sarah Jane Hampton	Thomas Hampton Sarah Jane Hampton 💍 1878/2113	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 weeks 3 Years	In the house, South Karaka	78/2042	of R. Y. Crump	15 June 1898	R. H. Chs. Watson
5010	15 June 1898	David Lewis Elizabeth Ann Grainger	David Lewis Elizabeth Ann Grainger 💍 1878/1224	Widower Widow	Sailmaker Tailoress	58 46	Christchurch Christchurch	21 Years 5 Years	St Pauls Church, Christchurch	78/1246		15 June 1898	R. H. Chs. Watson
5011	17 June 1898	Gottlob Constantin Hermann Rummel Karen Dorthea Andreasen		Widower Spinster	Cook Housekeeper	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 Years 6 Years	In the house, Tuam Street	78/2049		17 June 1898	R. C. Fraser
5012	17 June 1898	John King Agnes Lilly	John King Agnes Lilly 💍 1878/2114	Bachelor Widow	Clerk	31 33	Christchurch Rangiora	4 days 14 days	In the house of Mr. Stringer, Rangiora	78/2043		17 June 1898	R. C. Fraser
5013	19 June 1898	Joshua Rix Caroline Jones	Joshua Rix Caroline Jones 💍 1878/2115	Widower Spinster	Dairyfarmer Servant	57 49	Christchurch Christchurch	6 Years 12 Years	In the house, Tuam Street	78/2044		19 June 1898	R. C. Fraser
5014	19 June 1898	Edward George Berry Annie Wilmot	Edwin Cicero Berry Annie Wilmot 💍 1878/2078	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	27 29	Christchurch Christchurch	4 Years 3 Years	In St Lukes Church	78/2030		19 June 1898	Rev. C. Coates
5015	19 June 1898	Charles Louisson Hannah Harris	Charles Louisson Hannah Harris 💍 1878/2155	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	35 17	Christchurch Christchurch	4 Years 15 Years	In the Synagogue, Christchurch	78/1206	Maurice Harris, Father	19 June 1898	Rev. L. Zachariah, Heb
5016	19 June 1898	James Grey Catherine Dow	James Greig Catherine Dow 💍 1878/1228	Bachelor Spinster	Builder	24 19	Christchurch Christchurch	5 Years 6 Years	In the Presbyterian Church, Cashel Street	78/1227	Thomas Charles Dow, Father	19 June 1898	Rev. J. Elmslie
5017	20 June 1898	John James Patterson Annie Maria Perry	John James Patterson Annie Maria Perry 💍 1878/1195	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Schoolmistress	26 29	Christchurch Christchurch	4 Years 4 Years	Wesleyan Church	78/1219		20 June 1898	Rev. J. Crump
5018	20 June 1898	Robert Brown Isabella Smith	Robert Brown Isabella Smith 💍 1878/2093	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Courtenay Courtenay	3 Years 3 Years	In the house of Rev. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/2045	James Smith, Father	21 June 1898	Rev. C. Fraser
5019	21 June 1898	William Henry Roberts Kate Bowers	William Henry Roberts Kate Clara Bowern 💍 1878/1212	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	35 28	Christchurch Christchurch	5 Years 5 Years	In the Wesleyan Church, Durham Street	78/1233		21 June 1898	R. H. Turley

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).