Intentions to Marry, 1879

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840391, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 656

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1879

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
77	21 February 1879	George Sharpe Grace Jane Robinson Baldwin	George Sharpe Baldwin Grace Jane Robinson 💍 1879/561	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 12 years	In the Registrar's Office	79/459		21 February 1879	Registrar of Marriage M. Parkerson
78	21 February 1879	Alexander Frederick Smith Mary Jane Mahoney	Alexander Frederick Smith Mary Jane Mahoney 💍 1879/628	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	26 20	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	79/525	There is no person having authority to give consent	21 February 1879	Rev. L. Ginaty
79	24 February 1879	Patrick Ryan Eliza Ann Williams	Patrick Regan Eliza Anne Williams 💍 1879/626	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	25 19	Templeton Christchurch	7 years 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Church	79/525	There is no person having authority to give consent	24 February 1879	Rev. L. Ginaty
80	24 February 1879	William Smith Laura Allen	William Smith Laura Allen 💍 1879/1307	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	21 19	Sydenham Sydenham	3 months 3 months	In the house of Mr. Davis, Montreal	79/1294	Maria Amelia Allen, mother	24 February 1879	Rev. C. Fraser
81	25 February 1879	Frank Tukelic Julia Fitzgerald	Frank Aicketin Julia FitzGerald 💍 1879/629	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Servant	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	9 days 18 months	In the Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton	79/525	There is no person having authority to give consent	25 February 1879	Rev. L. Ginaty
82	25 February 1879	Robert Gilliam Macartney Bailey Sarah Ann Connor	Robert William Macarthey Bailey Sarah Ann Connor 💍 1879/639	Bachelor Widow	Maltster	36 32	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 4 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	79/513		25 February 1879	Rev. C. Fraser
83	27 February 1879	Robert Goodfellow Mary Wilson	Robert Goodfellow Mary Wilson 💍 1879/638	Widower Spinster	Bricklayer Servant	28 30	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 5 years	In the house of Rev C Fraser, Tuam Street	79/422		27 February 1879	Rev. C. Fraser
84	27 February 1879	John Medlin Emma Jane Piper	John Medlin Emma Jane Piper 💍 1879/548	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	29 18	Sydenham Sydenham	2 years 18 years	In the house of Mr. Medlin	79/422	Thomas Piper, father	27 February 1879	Rev. I. I. Smalley

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).