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 686

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
4830	January 1878	Joshua Farrer Emily [illegible]	Joshua Farrar Emily Kibblewhite 💍 1878/80	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler Servant	23 20	Colombo Road Merivale	1 Year In the District	St Lukes Church, Christchurch	78/664	There is no living authority	January 25 1878	Rev W. A. Pascoe, [illegible]
4831	January 1878	Abraham Tyson Mary Real	Abraham Tyson Mary Real 💍 1878/524	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 21	Spreydon Christchurch	6 Years In the house of Mr. Piper	Christchurch	78/504		January 28 1878	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4832	January 1878	James Anderson Harriet Ann Gaskin	James Anderson Harriet Ann Gaskell 💍 1878/533	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle dealer	34 26	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days In the District	St Michaels Church, Christchurch	78/490		January 28 1878	Rev R. S. Penny, [illegible]
4833	January 1878	Hercules Davidson May [illegible] Cooper Taylor	Hercules Davidson Margaret Cooper Taylor 💍 1878/525	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 23	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months In the house of Mr. Piper	Christchurch	78/505		January 28 1878	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4834	January 1878	Francis Fahy Mary Wallace	Francis Fahy Mary Wallace 💍 1878/497	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Cook	26 24	Christchurch Ferry Road, Christchurch	5 days In the Roman Catholic Church	Christchurch	78/498		January 28 1878	Rev L. Ginesty, RC
4835	January 1878	William Henry Harman Georgina Mary Johnston		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 17	Addington Addington	4 Years In the house of Mr. Fraser	Christchurch	78/506	Unified Mary Summer, mother	January 29 1878	Rev C. Fraser, Pres
4836	January 1878	Francis Augustine Ada Alice Pitt	Francis Ingmire Ada Alice Pitt 💍 1878/563	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Machinist	34 30	Christchurch Christchurch	6 weeks In the Registrars Office	Christchurch	78/545		January 29 1878	Registrar of Marriages, J. P. Jameson
4837	January 1878	Edwin Bardon Emily Forward	Edwin Weller Emily Forward 💍 1878/491	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	32 28	Prebbleton Prebbleton	3 months In the Prebbleton Church	Prebbleton	78/492		January 29 1878	Rev de B. Hovell, CofE
4838	January 1878	Alfred Thomas Drain Bridget Broderick	Alfred Edward Drain Bridget Broderick 💍 1878/496	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Years In the Roman Catholic Church	Christchurch	78/499		January 29 1878	Rev L. Ginesty, RC
4839	January 1878	John Frili Ellen Shannon	John Frili Ellen Shannon 💍 1878/498	Bachelor Spinster	Publican Servant	48 32	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Years Christchurch	Catholic Church			January 31 1878	Rev L. Ginesty, RC
4840	January 1878	Thomas McKeown Alda Alice Second	Thomas McGuire Alda Alice Secord 💍 1878/564	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Servant	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days In the Registrars Office, Christchurch	Akaroa	78/546		January 31 1878	Registrar of Marriages, J. P. Jameson

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).