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 695

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
359	November 1879	Richard George Martha Jane Ashton	Richard Savage Martha Jane Ashton 💍 1879/3144	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 21	Heathcote Heathcote	4 years in the Heathcote Valley 8 years	Church	79/928		November 1879	Rev. C. S. Merton
360	November 1879	Robert Rankin Martha Ann Barkle	Robert Rankin Martha Ann Bartle 💍 1879/2787	Widower Widow	Carpenter Housekeeper	38 28	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years in the house of Rev. J. S. Smalley 1 year Sydenham	In the house of Rev. J. S. Smalley	79/1048		November 1879	Rev. J. S. Smalley
361	November 1879	William John Hedley Ellen Hore	William John Hessey Ellen Hose 💍 1879/3172 William Jowett Ellen Lowe 💍 1879/901 William Hancox Ellen Jones 💍 1880/1067	Widower Spinster	Mechanic Servant	40 30	Sydenham Burwood	9 months in the house of Rev. J. White 6 months Sydenham	In the house of Rev. J. White	79/1032		November 1879	Rev. J. White
362	November 1879	James Hore Sarah Morris Denneths	James Moire Sarah Morris Bennetts 💍 1879/3139	Widower Spinster	Carter Servant	39 34	Stanmore Road Sydenham	11 years in the Presbyterian Church 5 years Cashel Street	Presbyterian Church	79/1123		November 1879	Rev. J. Elmslie
363	November 1879	John Philip Jessie V. Mary Agnes Roberts	John Philip Kissel Mary Agnes Roberts 💍 1879/3137	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Painter Painter	26 19	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years in the Presbyterian Church 9 months Cashel Street	Presbyterian Church	79/1127	No person having authority	November 1879	Rev. J. Elmslie
364	November 1879	John Conroy Kate Cassidy	John Conroy Kate Cassidy 💍 1879/2714	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years in the Roman Catholic Church 4 years Christchurch	Roman Catholic Church	79/1141		November 1879	Rev. L. Ginaty
365	November 1879	Thomas Common Mary Ann Whitelaw	Thomas Connon Mary Ann Whitelaw 💍 1879/3159	Widower Widow	Accountant	42 32	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years in the Registrars Office 25 years Christchurch	Registrars Office	79/1243		November 1879	Registrar Marriages J. M. Palkerson
366	November 1879	Jabez Trethewey Mary Wallace	Jabez Trethewey Mary Wallace 💍 1879/2775	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Servant	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years in the house of Rev. C. Fraser 10 months Tuam Street	In the house of Rev. C. Fraser	79/1260		November 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).