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 693

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
343	18 October 1879	Jeremiah Rickersby Emily Georgiana Northcote	Jeremiah Rickerley Emily Georgeana Northcote 💍 1879/2769	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Spinster	25 16	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 year	In the house of Mrs Smith Northcote	79/3154	Mother	18 October 1879	Rev C. Fraser Pres
344	21 October 1879	John Till Martha Unreross	John Till Martha Morcross 💍 1879/3157	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 35	Sydenham Sydenham	3 weeks 1 month	In the Registrars office	79/3155		21 October 1879	J. M. Maulkerson
345	22 October 1879	Chong Shee Henrietta Sophia Easton	Chung Shee Henrietta Sophia Easton 💍 1879/2771	Bachelor Spinster	Dealer Servant	30 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 6 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	79/3156	No person having authority	22 October 1879	Rev C. Fraser
346	22 October 1879	John Dawe Margaret Cunningham	John Dawe Margaret Cunningham 💍 1879/3367 John Bryant Hannah Cunningham 💍 1879/667	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	36 30	Greenpark Christchurch	9 months 3 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	79/3074		22 October 1879	Rev L. Ginaty R.C.
347	27 October 1879	Eben Adams Jane Robson	Eben Adams Jane Robson 💍 1879/3131	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman Spinster	21 17	Sydenham Sydenham	3 years 3 years	In St Michaels	79/3157	Mathew Robson Father	27 October 1879	Rev Z. C. Penny C.E.
348	29 October 1879	Henry Blackmore Elizabeth Ann Warren	Henry Blackmore Elizabeth Ann Warren 💍 1879/3151	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Spinster	22 19	St Albans St Albans	7 months 3 years	In the house of Rev C. Dallaston	79/3158	John Warren Father	29 October 1879	Rev C. Dallaston Bapt.
349	29 October 1879	Michael Dunn Mary Ann Loquen	Michael Quinn Mary Anne Logan 💍 1879/3366 Michael Glennen Mary Ann McIniny 💍 1879/2724 Michael Casey Mary Ann Meade 💍 1879/184 Michael Collins Mary Ann King 💍 1879/1647	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	44 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	79/3075		29 October 1879	Rev L. Ginaty R.C.
350	31 October 1879	Benjamin Crosby Kenrick Elizabeth Batly	Benjamin Crosby Kenrick Elizabeth Batly 💍 1879/2772 Benjamin Trumper Elizabeth Benbow 💍 1879/3246	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	35 30	Lincoln Road Lincoln Road	5 years 5 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	79/3159		31 October 1879	Rev C. Fraser Pres

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).