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 712

District of Cleustelunch 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
126	3 May 1881	William Alexander Elizabeth Sarah Phillips	William Alexander Elizabeth Sarah Phillips 💍 1881/1117	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	21 21	Cleustelunch Christchurch	4 days 6 years	In St Lukes, Little River, Church	81/1081		May 3 1881	Rev E. A. Lingard. Church of England
127	4 May 1881	John Foster Annie Thompson	John Dow Annie Hunter Thompson 💍 1881/1254	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	20 22	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 18 years	In the Presbyterian Church			May 19 1881	Rev H. St. Stower. Presbyterian
128	5 May 1881	James Gregg Margaret Ferguson	James Gregg Margaret Ferguson 💍 1881/1119 James Laing Julia Ferguson 💍 1881/2174	Widower Spinster	Farmer	30 28	Riccarton Kingsland	2 years 3 years	In St Lukes Church	81/1083		May 5 1881	Rev E. A. Lingard. Church of England
129	7 May 1881	Horatio Harris Harriet Elena Russell	Horatio Harris Harriet Eliza Russell 💍 1881/115	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Cleaner	24 22	Sydenham Christchurch	5 years 5 years	In the Registrars Office	81/1105		May 7 1881	Registrar of Marriages J. M. Wilkerson
130	7 May 1881	Joseph Reed Rowe Harriet Maria Jeffs	Joseph Reed Rowe Harriett Maria Jeffs 💍 1881/1162	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	Templeton Templeton	3 months	In the Templeton Church	81/1123	Jeffs Father	May 7 1881	Rev A. C. Wright. Church of England
131	9 May 1881	William Martha Margaret Hutchison	William Vartha Margaret Hutchison 💍 1881/1118	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter Servant	27 21	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years	In St Lukes Church	81/1082		May 9 1881	Rev E. A. Lingard. Church of England
132	9 May 1881	John Smith Mary Lowe Mitchell	John Smith Mary Lowe Mitchell 💍 1881/1137	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	26 18	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 10 years	In the House of Mr. Mitchell	81/1094	Isaac Mitchell. R. Taylor. Hatties	May 9 1881	Rev C. Fraser. Presbyterian
133	11 May 1881	Thomas Brown Mary Hindman	Thomas Brown Mary Hindman 💍 1881/1982	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 3 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	81/1095		May 11 1881	Rev C. Fraser. Presbyterian

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).