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 694

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
351	3 November 1879	Hannibal Johns Congdon Gilbert Mary Jane Aldred	Hannibal John Congdon Gilbert Mary Jane Aldred 💍 1879/3148	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk in Holy Orders	32 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 14 years	St. Lukes, Papanui Church	79/764		3 November 1879	Rev. Z. C. Lingard
352	3 November 1879	William Warren Jane Atkins	William Warren Wakefield Mary Jane Atkins 💍 1879/3158	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	8 months in the 1 year	Registrars office	79/765		3 November 1879	J. J. Matheron
353	3 November 1879	Henry Thomas Thompson Emily Dovey House	Henry Thomas Thompson Emily Dovey 💍 1879/3250	Bachelor Spinster	Agent	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days in the 3 days	Wesleyan Church, St. Albans	79/812		3 November 1879	Rev. I. Aldred
354	3 November 1879	James Harris Emma White	James Harris Emma White 💍 1879/2773	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 19	Sydenham Sydenham	4 years in the House of Geo C. Fraser 19 years, Tuam Street	In the House of Geo C. Fraser	79/158	Father	3 November 1879	Rev. C. Fraser
355	5 November 1879	William Bowden Mary Ann Thomas	William Bowden Mary Anne Thomas 💍 1879/2786	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 30	Sydenham Sydenham	10 months in the 3 years, Sydenham	Wesleyan Church	79/314		5 November 1879	Rev. I. S. Sealley
356	6 November 1879	George Hedman Mary Ann Hassett	George Stedman Mary Ann Harset 💍 1879/2774 George Hyndman Mary Jane Davies 💍 1879/1497 George Weston Mary Ann Smith 💍 1880/886 George Wilkins Mary Ann Hagan 💍 1879/3016 George Mason Mary Anne Harris 💍 1879/644	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	45 33	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days in the House of Mr. Walker 8 months, Aldred Street	In the House of Mr. Walker, Rakaja	79/159		6 November 1879	Rev. I. Campbell
357	7 November 1879	George Evans Emily Louisa Rossiter	George Evans Emily Louisa Rossiter 💍 1879/3196	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years in St. Johns Church 10 years, Christchurch	St. Johns Church	79/258		7 November 1879	Rev. S. C. M. Watson
358	8 November 1879	Robert Thompson Alma Warren	Robert Thompson Alma Harvey 💍 1879/3197 Robert Thompson Mary Catherine Aubrey 💍 1879/3331	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 20	Christchurch Christchurch	7 months in St. Johns Church 4 years, Christchurch	St. Johns Church	79/460	Father	8 November 1879	Rev. H. C. M. Watson

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).