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 0700

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
55	February 24	Samuel Summerton Sarah Crassey	Emanuel Summerton Sarah Cressey 💍 1881/474	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	28 22	Knightstown Christchurch	3 years 22 years	St Lukes Church	81/412		February 24	A Mortimer Rev. E. A Lingard
56	February 24	George Frederick Bryant Margaret Boyce	George Frederick Bryant Margaret Maria Boyce 💍 1881/491	Bachelor Spinster	Coach-Painter Dressmaker	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 19 years	the house of Mr. Broom	81/405		February 24	Thos R. Cairns Presbyterian
57	February 24	William Blackler Mary Ann Ellis	William Blackler Mary Ann Ellis 💍 1881/464	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 18	Springston Springston	4 years 7 years	Wesleyan Church	81/382	Mother	February 24	Rev S. Smalley Wesleyan
58	February 26	James Charles Burbury Jane [illegible] Lynn	James Charles Burbery Jane Lynn 💍 1881/453	Widower Widow	Dealer Housekeeper	43 31	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 6 weeks	the House of Mr. W. Niese	81/391		February 26	Rev C. Fraser Presbyterian
59	February 28	Charles Samuel Frederick Mary Ann Mason	Charles Samuel Frederic Moore Mary Ann Mason 💍 1881/462	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 23	Lincoln Lincoln	3 days 5 weeks	In the Lincoln Church	81/399		February 28	Rev. I. F. Teakle Church of England
60	February 28	Joseph [illegible] Emma Barber	Joseph Hill Emma Barber 💍 1881/514	Widower	Housekeeper	50	Fendalton Christchurch	3 years	In the Registrars Office	81/428		February 28	Registrar of Marriages M Paulkerson
61	February 28	George Henry French Annie Maria Brooker	George Henry French Annie Maria Brooker 💍 1881/459	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Dressmaker	32 21	Hororata Christchurch	5 years 21 years	In the house of Mr. Brooker	81/394		February 28	Rev J. Aldred Wesleyan
62	February 28	James Armstrong McGee Mary Alice Bowdall	James Armstrong McGee Mary Alice Dawdall 💍 1881/497	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 20 years	In the Wesleyan Church	81/433	Mother	February 28	H. Baumber Rev A Reid Wesleyan

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).