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 688

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
4852	13 February 1878	William Henry Squires Elizabeth Marion Park	William Henry Symes Elizabeth Marion Park 💍 1878/294	Bachelor Spinster	Physician	34 19	Christchurch Wellington	4 years 7 years	St Paul's Church	78/234	Park, Mother	13 February 1878	Rev. B. W. Harvey
4853	14 February 1878	John Broome Caroline Alma Cotton	John Broom Caroline Ann Cotton 💍 1878/576	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 3 months	In the house	78/557		14 February 1878	Rev. T. Hodgison
4854	15 February 1878	Frederick Treffers Susan Fashing		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 20	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 5 years	St Lukes Church Ashburton	78/569	Evans, Mother	15 February 1878	Rev. W. A. Pascoe
4855	16 February 1878	Michael Charles O'Connell Isabella Grubb	Michael Charles O'Connel Isabella Grubb 💍 1878/482 Michael Charles OConnell Isabella Grubb 💍 1878/579	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 17	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 1 week	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser	78/462	John Grubb, Father	16 February 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
4856	16 February 1878	John Braice Rachel Ann Meenner	John Braid Rachel Ann Meneer 💍 1878/481	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser	78/461		16 February 1878	Rev. C. Fraser
4857	19 February 1878	Ludwig Heese Margaret Campbell	Ludwig Heese Margaret Campbell 💍 1878/473	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	29 28	Opawa Opawa	9 months 6 weeks	In the Opawa Church	78/454		19 February 1878	Rev. R. S. Coshomdeley
4858	20 February 1878	John James Martin Rebecca Jane Green	John James Martin Rebecca Jane Green 💍 1878/548	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	23 23	Addington Addington	6 days 6 days	In the Addington Church	78/511		20 February 1878	Rev. H. B. Cocks
4859	20 February 1878	Daniel Colville Turner Harriet Ann Price	Daniel Colville Turner Harriet Ann Price 💍 1878/474	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	20 19	Christchurch Riccarton	3 days 5 years	In the Riccarton Church	78/512	Charles Price, Father	20 February 1878	Rev. C. Bowen
4860	21 February 1878	Joseph Watson Jane Williams	Joseph Watson Jane Williams 💍 1878/549	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Servant	31 23	Newtown Newtown	1 month 2 months	In the Colombo Road Church	78/530		21 February 1878	Rev. H. B. Cocks
4861	22 February 1878	Ching George Eliza Neal	Ching George Eliza Neal 💍 1878/555	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	26 22	St Albans St Albans	18 months 1 month	In the Church of Mr Clark, St Albans	78/512		22 February 1878	Rev. J. Aldred, Wes
4862	25 February 1878	Robert Page Jane Beattie	Robert Page Jane Beattie 💍 1878/577	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner Dressmaker	22 22	Christchurch Addington	14 days 5 years	In the house of Mr Clark	[illegible]		25 February 1878	Rev. T. Hodgison

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).