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 0729

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
262	29 August 1881	Charles Gates Annie Maria Reaney	Charles Yates Annie Maria Reaney 💍 1881/2748	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	41 22	Heathcote Heathcote	6 years 4 days	In the House of Mr. Yates	81/1945		August 29 1881	Rev C. Fraser Presbyterian
263	29 August 1881	Henry Thomas Alderton Charlotte Leah	Henry Thomas Elderton Charlotte Lea 💍 1881/2011	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	28 18	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 10 days	In the Church of St Luke	81/2048	Father	August 29 1881	Rev E. A. Lingard Church of England
264	29 August 1881	Alfred Edward Sutton Jane Dalziel	Alfred Edward Tutton Jane Dalziel 💍 1881/2000	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 23	Papaunui Papaunui	5 years 4 years	In St. Pauls Church	81/2036		August 29 1881	Rev H. C. M. Watson
265	30 August 1881	Samuel Osbourne Alice Girtwood		Bachelor Spinster	Stable-Keeper Barmaid	22 23	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 3 years	In the Registrars Office			August 30 1881	Registrar of Marriages M. Walkinsoin
266	30 August 1881	Samuel Augustus Worthington Rosalearia		Bachelor Spinster	Civil	36 34	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 8 years	In St Lukes Church	81/2049		August 30 1881	Rev E. A. Lingard Church of England
267	31 August 1881	Robert Haulkerelle Plenabath Senior	Robert Nankeville Elizabeth Senior 💍 1881/2749	Bachelor Spinster	Dairy-man	23 20	Christchurch Sumner	8 years 4 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	81/2846		August 31 1881	Rev C. Fraser Presbyterian
268	31 August 1881	John Bartley Mary Jane Johnston	John Bartley Mary Jane Johnston 💍 1881/1953	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Servant	35 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 2 years	In the Registrars Office	81/1966		August 31 1881	M. Walkinsoin
269	1 September 1881	Rockfort Snow Elizabeth Matilda Norman	Rochfort Snow Elizabeth Matilda Norman 💍 1881/2001	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Service	30 23	Opawa Papaunui	2 years 4 years	In St Pauls Church	81/2037		September 1 1881	Rev H. C. M. Watson Church of England

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).