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 685

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
280	18 August 1879	James Hosking Emily Jane Hosking	James Hosking Emily Jane Hosking 💍 1879/3217	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 17	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 9 years	In St. John's Church, Christchurch	79/2802	Mother	18 August 1879	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
281	19 August 1879	Edward Liddle Robinson Sarah Elizabeth	Edward Liddle Sarah Elizabeth Robinson 💍 1879/1982	Bachelor Widow	Butcher Nurse	26 28	Addington Addington	1 week 5 years	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	79/2016		19 August 1879	Rev. C. Fraser
282	20 August 1879	Thomas Joyce Elizabeth Charlotte Scott	Thomas Joyce Elizabeth Charlotte Scott 💍 1879/2878	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	24 20	Christchurch Addington	6 months 8 years	Methodist Chapel	79/2017	Father	20 August 1879	Rev. J. White
283	21 August 1879	Alexander Haurida William Morrice Mary Ann Rowe	Alex William Maurice Mary Rowe 💍 1879/2031	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	33 18	Christchurch Sydenham	3 days 2 years	In the Presbyterian Church, Rangiora	79/2018	Mother	21 August 1879	Rev. J. Hemslie
284	22 August 1879	John McLeod Sarah Elizabeth Dashwood	John McLeod Sarah Elizabeth Dashwood 💍 1879/1983	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Manager	36 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 days	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser	79/2017		22 August 1879	Rev. C. Fraser
285	22 August 1879	James Francis Jones Mary Ann McKinley	James Francis Jones Mary Ann McKinlay 💍 1879/1984	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer Servant	32 24	Sydenham Bingoland	14 years 6 months	In the House of Mr. McKinley, Bingoland	79/2018		22 August 1879	Rev. J. Hemslie
286	25 August 1879	George Butcher Elizabeth Pauline Wade	George Butcher Elizabeth Caroline Wade 💍 1879/2023	Bachelor Spinster	Woolsorter	25 21	Woolston Christchurch	25 years 4 years	In the house of Mr. Wade, Avonside	79/2058		25 August 1879	Rev. C. Dallaston
287	28 August 1879	James Wallace Ellen Elizabeth Smith	James Wallace Ellen Elizabeth Smith 💍 1879/1986	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	24 18	Greenpark Greenpark	5 years 9 years	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Lincoln	79/2019	Mother	28 August 1879	Rev. C. Fraser

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).