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 0702

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
4987	3 June 1878	John Washington Meeker Elizabeth Meynell	John Washington Walker Mary Elizabeth Meynell 💍 1878/1440	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 17	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office	78/1301	Meynell, father	3 June 1878	Registrar of Marriages, W. Rolleston
4988	3 June 1878	Michael McGrath Hannah O'Connell	Michael McGrale Nano O'Connell 💍 1878/2376	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 months	Roman Catholic Church	78/2305		3 June 1878	Rev L. Ginaty
4989	3 June 1878	Andrew Thompson Caroline Brick	Andrew Thompson Caroline Brick 💍 1878/2103	Bachelor Widow	Plumber	29 33	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Residence of Mr Thompson	78/2037		3 June 1878	Rev C. Fraser
4990	3 June 1878	William Harland Adelaide Statt	William Hartland Adelaide Pratt 💍 1878/2148	Bachelor Widow	Clerk	22 26	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 5 years	Residence of Mr Statt	78/2100		3 June 1878	Rev S. S. Penny
4991	3 June 1878	James Harper Annie Gray	James Harper Annie Gray 💍 1878/3353	Bachelor Spinster	Horse Driver Servant	25 24	Balcairn Christchurch	9 months 9 months	Residence of Mr Stoyle	78/2034		3 June 1878	Rev J. McIntosh
4992	3 June 1878	James Gordon Christina Sutherland	James Gordon Christina Sutherland 💍 1878/2084	Bachelor Spinster	Mine Manager	33 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 2 years	Birchfield	78/2035	James Sutherland, father	3 June 1878	Rev C. Fraser, Lutheran
4993	4 June 1878	James Howat McDonald Ellen Devlin	James Howat McDonald Ellen Devlin 💍 1878/2147	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 days	Residence of Mr Small	78/2099		4 June 1878	Rev S. S. Penny
4994	4 June 1878	Henry John Francis Rose Hannah Harris	Henry John Francis Rose Hannah Harris 💍 1878/1211	Bachelor Spinster	Station Master	29 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 months	Chapel, Killinchy	78/1230	William Harris, father	4 June 1878	Rev W. A. Pascoe
4995	5 June 1878	James Adolphus Mary Jane Trivett	James Adolphus Ladbrook Mary Jane Trivett 💍 1878/1233	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	19 19	Puketeraki Christchurch	6 months 6 months	Residence of Mr Mountier	78/1232	Jane Baile, mother	5 June 1878	Rev W. A. Pascoe
4996	5 June 1878	Leonard Cook Margaret Redington	Leonard Cock Margaret Redington 💍 1878/1221	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Painter Servant	24 28	Ferry Road Christchurch	1 month 3 months	Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch	78/1240		5 June 1878	Revd. Ch. Watson
4997	7 June 1878	William Gray Amelia Robertson	William Long Amelia Netherton 💍 1878/2092	Widower Widow	Blacksmith Farmer	30 39	Templeton Templeton	5 years 2 years	Residence of Mr Robertson	78/2036		7 June 1878	Rev C. Fraser

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).