Intentions to Marry, 1881

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840393, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

Page 718

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1881

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
174	13 June 1881	William Henry Butcher Maria Quick	William Henry Butcher Maria Jane Quick 💍 1881/117	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 2 years	In the Bible Christian Chapel, Addington	81/1127	Father	June 1881	Rev. J. Wilson
175	13 June 1881	Henry Henderson Elizabeth Johnston	Thomas Henry Henderson Elizabeth Johnston 💍 1881/135	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	26 20	Caledonian Road Christchurch	6 years 5 years	In the House of Mr. Johnston	881/1097	Mother	June 1881	Rev. A. Peters
176	14 June 1881	Henry Allan Scott Madelina Weir	Henry Alan Scott Madelina Ellinor Lance 💍 1881/1538	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister	33 19	Christchurch Riccarton	2 years 6 years	In the Riccarton Church	81/1535	Father	14 June 1881	Rev. C. Bowen
177	14 June 1881	William Cook Sarah Faragher	William Cook Sarah Faraghen 💍 1881/1965	Widower Spinster	Greengrocer	27 27	Lyttelton Christchurch	4 years 3 weeks	In St. Andrews, Lyttelton Church	2002		June 1881	Rev. C. Fraser
178	15 June 1881	Robert Billews Mary Brabner	Robert Billins Mary Brabner 💍 1881/1966	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	25 24	Christchurch Tuam Street	10 years 3 weeks	In St. Andrews Church	2003		June 1881	Rev. C. Fraser
179	15 June 1881	Edmund Goodwin Rosina King	Edmund Goodwin Lanceley Rosina King 💍 1881/1143	Bachelor Widow	Steward	32 34	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 10 days	In the Registrars Office	81/1112		June 1881	Registrar Marriages Mr. Wilkerson
180	16 June 1881	John William Bates Clara Bates	John William Leete Clara Jane Norman Bates 💍 1881/961	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	25 27	Christchurch Greytown	7 years 3 weeks	In the Church of England Church	81/920		June 1881	Rev. A. Knell
181	16 June 1881	Joseph Wade Alice Watson	Joseph Wade Alice Watson 💍 1881/1144	Bachelor Spinster	Jockey	20 20	Christchurch Riccarton	7 years 20 years	In the Registrars Office	81/1	Joseph Wade, Father	June 1881	Registrar Marriages Mr. Wilkerson

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).