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 740

District of Ashburton 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
122	1 July 1879	Stephen Stephenson Chapman Sarah Ann Osborne	Stephen Stephenson Chapman Sarah Ann Osborne 💍 1879/2018	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 years 20 years	Nuttoft Farm, Willowby Midway Farm, Tai Tapu	5 years 10 years	Wesleyan Church, Durham Street, Christchurch	79/2029	James Osborne, father, Tai Tapu	1 July 1879	Revd Alexander Reid
125	11 July 1879	Alfred Brundel Elizabeth Shepherd	Alfred Brundel Elizabeth Shepherd 💍 1879/2053	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Domestic Servant	26 years 22 years	Ashburton Ashburton	4 months 6 months	Registrars Office	79/2089		11 July 1879	J Ward, Registrar
126	12 July 1879	Joseph Smythe Emily Hodder	Joseph Smythe Emily Hodder 💍 1879/2061	Widower Spinster	General Merchant	29 years 20 years	Richmond, Nelson Ashburton	4 1/2 years 2 months	Private Dwelling, House of Thomas Hodder, Ashburton	79/2094	Thomas Hodder, Father	12 July 1879	Revd William Neall
127	15 August 1879	Alfred Bennett Lucy Miles	Alfred Bennett Lucy Miles 💍 1879/2055	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 years 17 years	Wheatstone Wheatstone	2 years 2 years	Registrars Office	79/2091	Thomas Miles, Father	5 September 1879	J Ward, Registrar
128	18 August 1879	George Thompson Bedelia Moran	George Thompson Bedelia Moran 💍 1879/2049	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	23 years 18 years	Ashburton Ashburton	2 years 9 months	Catholic Church	79/2088	Guardian	18 August 1879	Revd J. C. Cherrier
129	18 August 1879	John Squires Elizabeth Downes	John Squires Elizabeth Downes 💍 1879/2054	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nurse	40 years 32 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 weeks 3 weeks	Registrars Office	79/2090		18 August 1879	J Ward, Registrar
130	25 August 1879	John Swaney Mary Ann Stewart	John Swaney Mary Ann Stewart 💍 1879/2060	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	33 years 25 years	Wakanui Wakanui	5 years 2 months	Private dwelling, house of George [illegible]	79/2093		25 August 1879	Revd William Neall
131	9 September 1879	William Alexander Margaret Rose Hams	William Alexander Margaret Rose Harris 💍 1879/2056	Bachelor Widow	Contractor	27 years 30 years	Seafield Seafield	2 years 1 year	Registrars Office	79/2092		9 September 1879	J Ward, Registrar
132	9 September 1879	James Colwell Caroline Ellen	James Colwell Caroline Ellen 💍 1879/2059	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	32 years 17 years	Newlands Newlands	3 years 1 year	Private dwelling, house of Susannah Ellen, Newlands	79/2094	Susannah Ellen, mother (Father dead)	9 September 1879	Revd William Neall

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).