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 0696

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
4921	15 April 1878	George Rawdinell Annie Welch	George Nankivell Annie Welch 💍 1878/1249	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	23 19	Woolston Woolston	23 years 4 years	In the Scotch Church, Tuam Street	78/1272	Charles Welch, Father	15 April 1878	R. C. Fraser
4922	16 April 1878	Robert Mulligan Emily Hood	Robert Mulligan Emily Hood 💍 1878/1217	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	29 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 days	In the Church of St. John	78/1240	Thomas Hood, Father	April 16 1878	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
4923	16 April 1878	John Atkinson Agnes Lucretia Tunstate	John Atkinson Agnes Tunstall 💍 1878/1247	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 30	Yaldhurst Yaldhurst	1 year 1 year	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/1294	There is no person in N.Z. having authority to consent	16 April 1878	R. C. Fraser
4924	17 April 1878	James Stellan Mary Starrs	James Hallam Mary Starrs 💍 1878/1270	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Servant	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 4 months	In the Registrars Office, Christchurch	78/1294		17 April 1878	Registrar of Marriages, M. Anderson
4925	17 April 1878	John Eliasson Elizabeth Wilson	John Eleasson Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1878/3345	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter House Keeper	35 47	Addington Addington	1 month 5 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser, Tuam Street	78/1269		17 April 1878	R. C. Fraser, Pres.
4926	17 April 1878	George Paterson Emily Lumsdale	George Paterson Emily Tindall 💍 1878/1220	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 1 year	In the house of Mrs Lumsdale, Armagh Street	78/1225		17 April 1878	R. W. Rowley
4927	18 April 1878	George Berry Ritchie Euphemia Taylor	George Berry Ritchie Euphemia Taylor 💍 1878/1209	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk [illegible]	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 14 years	In the Wesleyan Chapel, East Belt	78/1224		18 April 1878	R. S. Bond
4928	23 April 1878	Robert Smith Mary Jane Hatch	Robert Smith Mary Jane Hart 💍 1878/1231 Richard Smith Mary Jane Hellen 💍 1878/1051 Robert Smith Margaret McDonald 💍 1878/507	Bachelor Spinster	Mouldwright [illegible]	25 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 18 years	In St. Lukes Church, Manchester Street	78/1230	John Hatch, Father	23 April 1878	Rev. W. A. Pascoe
4929	23 April 1878	William Byrne Sarah Jane Haughty	William Byrne Sarah Jane Haughton 💍 1878/2344	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 30	Kaiapoi, Waltham Waltham	9 weeks 9 weeks	In the Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	78/1256		23 April 1878	Rev. L. M. Ginaty
4930	23 April 1878	Henry Frederick Britton Eliza Collier	Henry Frederick Britton Eliza Collier 💍 1878/2151	Bachelor Spinster	Soda water maker [illegible]	31 25	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 5 years	In St. Michaels Church, Christchurch	78/1203		23 April 1878	Rev. E. G. Penny
4931	23 April 1878	Francis Henry Britton Florence Laura Templer	Francis Henry Brittan Florence Laura Templer 💍 1878/1251	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	31 23	Avonside Avonside	26 years 5 years	In the Avonside Church	78/1257		23 April 1878	Rev. H. Glasson

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).