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 651

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
34	20 January 1879	Charles Myall Sophia Road	Charles Myall Sophia Foost 💍 1879/582	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Servant	34 33	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	79/480		20 January 1879	Rev. E. S. Penny
35	20 January 1879	John Jones Martha Baker	John Jones Martha Baker 💍 1879/555	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Servant	35 25	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 5 years	Church, Avonhead	79/445		20 January 1879	Rev. H. Elasson
36	20 January 1879	Alfred Grant Louisa Skelton	Alfred Ward Louisa Skelton 💍 1879/558	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	27 23	West Melton West Melton	14 years 3 months	The Registrar's Office, Christchurch	79/459		20 January 1879	Registrar Markerson
37	20 January 1879	Robert Ewing Margaret Faulane	Robert Ewing Margaret McFarlane 💍 1879/521	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 30	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 6 years	St. Paul's Church, Cashel Street	79/418		20 January 1879	Rev. C. Fraser
38	21 January 1879	William Davy Hillkin Kate Elizabeth Cane	William Davy Wilkins Kate Elizabeth Cane 💍 1879/632	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	34 21	Opawa Opawa	3 days 3 months	The Church, Addington	79/530	Alfred Sadd, father	21 January 1879	Rev. S. I. Churton
39	22 January 1879	Thomas Kerr Emma Bath	Thomas Kerr Emma Gadd 💍 1879/63	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	26 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 11 years	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch	79/248	R. S. G. Tapp, father	22 January 1879	Rev. S. G. Harper
40	22 January 1879	Edward James Shelton Elizabeth Lily Tate		Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Milliner	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	The Registrar's Office, Christchurch	79/452		22 January 1879	Registrar Markerson
41	23 January 1879	James Dunbar Rose McHenie	James Dunbar Rose McNenie 💍 1879/537 James Dunbar Elizabeth Anne Kelly 💍 1879/2161	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 22	Addington Addington	4 days 4 days	The Church, Addington	79/435	Thomas Roberts, Giving authority	23 January 1879	Rev. H. E. East
42	23 January 1879	Walter Luckes Lucy Stacey	Walter Tucker Lucy Stacey 💍 1879/616	Bachelor Spinster	Barman Servant	28 17	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 1 year	St. Paul's, Peterborough Street	79/450	S. Tapp, father	23 January 1879	Rev. J. O'Shaughnessy
43	23 January 1879	John Moore Jane Blackell Johnston	John Moore Jane Elizabeth Johnston 💍 1879/579	Bachelor Spinster	Bachelor Spinster	30 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	The Registrar's Office, Christchurch	79/455		23 January 1879	Registrar Markerson
44	25 January 1879	William Simmons Margaret Corbett	William Simmons Margaret Corbett 💍 1879/583	Bachelor Spinster	Attendant	32 22	Springston Springston	7 years 6 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	79/481		25 January 1879	Rev. E. S. Penny

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).