Intentions to Marry, 1884

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840396, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 441

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1884

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
246	1 July 1884	James Vincent Frances Ellis Martin	James Vincent Frances Ellis Martin 💍 1884/2831	Widower Widow	Painter Housekeeper	57 43	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 4 years	Registrars Office	84/2844	1 July 1884	J. M. Walkerson
247	1 July 1884	Andrew Fuilen Mary Ann Grade	Andrew Cullen Mary Ann Argue 💍 1885/774 Andrew Finlin Mary Anne McGrode 💍 1884/2886 Andrew Diamond Mary Ann Read 💍 1884/1274	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	27 25	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Roman Catholic Church	84/2627	1 July 1884	Rev. L. McGuinaty
248	2 July 1884	Thomas Anderson Annie Cloggie	Thomas Anderson Annie Cloggie 💍 1884/2989	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer Servant	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 9 days	Church of St. Paul	84/2797	2 July 1884	Rev. J. Elmslie
249	2 July 1884	Charles Foster Annie Sutherland	Charles Foster Annie Sutherland 💍 1884/2879 Charles Pearce Catherine Sutherland 💍 1884/2350	Widower Widow	Engine Fitter Servant	42 28	Sydenham Sydenham	2 years 1 month	House of Rev. T. R. Cairns, South Belt	84/2634	2 July 1884	Rev. T. R. Cairns
250	3 July 1884	Alexander Kennett Jane Hislop	Alexander Kennedy Jane Hislop 💍 1884/3775	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	33 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 month	Mr. Hislop's house, Caledonian Road	84/2401	3 July 1884	Rev. I. Hoatson
251	3 July 1884	Joseph Fussell Sophia Schroder	Joseph Fussell Sophia Schroder 💍 1884/2851	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Lincoln Lincoln	10 years 7 years	House of Rev. W. Deansville, Green Street	84/2341	3 July 1884	Rev. W. Deansville
252	4 July 1884	Charles Phillips Jane Durings	Charles Phillips Jane Ewings 💍 1884/3838	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 18 years	House of Rev. G. Bond, East Belt	84/2391	4 July 1884	Rev. G. Bond
253	7 July 1884	Francis Henry Charlotte Were	Francis Henry Woodman Charlotte Were 💍 1884/1450	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Milliner	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 10 months	St. Johns Church	84/2389	7 July 1884	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
254	7 July 1884	Richard Williams Silvia Batchelor	Richard Williams Sylvia Fanny Batchelor 💍 1884/2739	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 3 weeks	St. Lukes Church	84/2375	7 July 1884	Rev. R. A. Loughnan

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).