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 727

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
246	10 August 1881	Norval Frederick Jane McNae	Norah Frederick Marley Jane McNae 💍 1881/2292	Widower Spinster	Builder	29 20	Courtenay Courtenay	3 years 15 years	In the Riccarton	81/2353		August 10 1881	Rev C. Bowen
247	13 August 1881	David Smith Martha Simpson	David Smith Martha Simpson 💍 1881/1927	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 19	Lincoln Christchurch	10 years Christchurch	Registrars Office, Christchurch	81/1963	George Simpson, Father	August 13 1881	M. M. Matheson
248	15 August 1881	Henry Prider Neva Cutter		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 year	In the St Saviours, Sydenham	81/2038		August 15 1881	Rev H. B. Cocks
249	17 August 1881	Albert Cragmile Edith Hales		Bachelor Spinster	Bottler	24 17	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 17 years	In the Church of St Michael, Christchurch	81/3155	Ann Hales, Mother	August 17 1881	Rev E. G. Penny
250	17 August 1881	James Wilson Mary Ann King	James Wilson Mary Ann King 💍 1881/2020	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	21 21	Riccarton Sydenham	3 months 4 months	In the St Saviours Church	81/2039		August 17 1881	Rev H. B. Cocks
251	17 August 1881	William Fine Harriet Barnes	William Fine Sarah Fussell 💍 1881/2747	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	26 20	Lincoln Christchurch	4 years 17 years	In the House of Rev E. Fraser	81/1977		August 17 1881	Rev E. Fraser
252	18 August 1881	Alfred Allan Francis Weatherspoon Crosbie	Alfred Allan Francis Agnes Weatherspoon Crosbie 💍 1881/3068	Bachelor Spinster	Wine Merchant	30 25	Christchurch Christchurch	2.5 years 2 years	In the St Johns Church	81/3239		August 18 1881	Rev H. C. M. Watson
253	18 August 1881	Francis Wilson Margaret Catherine Keith Duncan	Francis Wilson Margaret Catharine Ruth Duncan 💍 1881/1944	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 19	Waltham Waltham	6 years 15 years	In the Bible Christian Chapel, Christchurch	81/1982	Alexander Duncan, Father	August 18 1881	Rev J. Crewes

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).