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 698

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
4932	23 April 1878	William H. Crouch Mary Jane Nash	William McConnell Mary Jane Naish 💍 1878/1248 William Fagg Mary Jane Nairn 💍 1878/942 William Pool Mary Jane Smith 💍 1878/799	Bachelor Widow	Laborer Storekeeper	28 30	New Brighton Bings	8 months 10 years	In the house, Tuam Street	78/1241		23 April 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
4933	23 April 1878	William Flutey Mary Ann Sophia Graham	William Flutey Mary Ann Sophia Graham 💍 1878/2153	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	20 18	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 5 months	In the Church of St Michael, having authorized consent.	78/1241		23 April 1878	Rev. E. G. Penny
4934	23 April 1878	Francis Henry Dillon Bell Caroline Robinson	Francis Henry Dillon Bell Caroline Robinson 💍 1878/1218	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister	27 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 6 years	In St John's Church, Wellington	78/1211		23 April 1878	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
4935	23 April 1878	Walter Cole Rachel Amy	Walter Cole Rachel Amy 💍 1878/1208	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman Servant	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 15 months	In the Wesleyan Church, Durham Street	78/1223		23 April 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
4936	23 April 1878	John Charles Hughes Millicent Book	John Charles Hughes Millicent Boot 💍 1878/1271	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 14 years	In the Registrar's Office	78/1295		23 April 1878	Registrar of Marriages, W.A. Marchant
4937	24 April 1878	Stephen Smith Sarah Smith	Stephen Smith Sarah Smith 💍 1878/1215	Widower Widow	Laborer Servant	47 47	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	3 years 5 months	In the Church	78/1238		24 April 1878	Rev. H. Stocker
4938	24 April 1878	Charles Findlay Himalaya Elizabeth	Charles Findlay H E Alexander 💍 1878/1250	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	21 19	Pound Road Pound Road	3 years 19 years	In the house of Jessie Alexander, Mother	78/1273	Jessie Alexander, Mother	24 April 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
4939	25 April 1878	Harry Page Agnes Lumsden	Harry Page Agnes Lumsden 💍 1878/2052	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	24 20	Springston Springston	4 years 1 year	In the house of Mr Liddle	78/2002	Janet Lumsden, Mother	25 April 1878	Rev. R. Waddell
4940	25 April 1878	Peter McDonald Mary Margaret Josephine Bean	Peter McDonald Mary Margaret Josephine Dean 💍 1878/2345	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 19	Riccarton Christchurch	3 months 3 months	In the Roman Catholic Church	78/1285	Margaret Bean, Mother	25 April 1878	Rev. L. Ginaty, RC
4941	26 April 1878	Archibald Small Ann Elizabeth Allen	Archibald Small Ann Elizabeth Allen 💍 1878/1255	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	28 24	Christchurch St Albans	3 days 6 years	In the Governor's Bay Road	78/1253		26 April 1878	Rev. S. J. Cholmondeley
4942	26 April 1878	Thomas Pope Beer Annie Burk	Thomas Pope Beer Annie Burt 💍 1878/1272	Bachelor Widow	Bootmaker	44 40	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	In the Registrar's Office	78/1296		26 April 1878	Registrar of Marriages, W.A. Marchant

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).