Intentions to Marry, 1885

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840397, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 569

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1885

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
115	8 April 1885	Bryan O'Connor Ellen Hendron	Bryan OConnor Ellen Hendron 💍 1885/1479	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	31 21	Christchurch Sydenham	4 days 1 week	Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	85/1524		8 April 1885	Revd. Fr. Ginaty, Roman Catholic
116	10 April 1885	John Harold Carrington Mary Jane Isherwood	John Harold Carrington Mary Jane Isherwood 💍 1885/1554	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 20 years	Registrar Office, Christchurch	85/1554		10 April 1885	Registrar Marriages J. M. Makerrow
117	11 April 1885	Forbes Bruce Isabel Ayers	Forbes Burn Isabel Ayers 💍 1885/1481	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	31 23	Opawa Opawa	1 year 2 years	House of Mr. Ayers, Opawa	85/1503		11 April 1885	Revd. J. Elmslie, Presbyterian
118	14 April 1885	Edgar John Dean Agnes Sophia Sandford	Edgar John Dean Agnes Sophia Sandford 💍 1885/3726	Bachelor Spinster	Stockkeeper	27 19	Woolston Heathcote Valley	6 years 19 years	Church, Heathcote	85/3380	John Sandford, Father	14 April 1885	Revd. J. Watson, Church of England
119	15 April 1885	George Cooper Elizabeth Hitchins	George Cooper Elizabeth Ann Hitchins 💍 1885/2429	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 21	Christchurch West Melton	4 days 3 years	Wesleyan Church, Christchurch	85/2567		15 April 1885	Revd. W. Cannell, Wesleyan
120	15 April 1885	Charles Henry Yeadon Kate Murphy	Charles Henry Yeadon Kate Murphy 💍 1885/1477	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger Servant	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	85/1522		15 April 1885	Revd. L. W. Ginaty, Roman Catholic
121	15 April 1885	John Archibald Paton Theresa Haylock	John Archibald Paton Theresa Haylock 💍 1885/1557	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 10 years	Registrar Office, Christchurch	85/1555		15 April 1885	Registrar Marriages J. M. Makerrow
122	15 April 1885	Marshall Sugden Mary Herbertson	Marshall Ingle Mary Herberson 💍 1885/1555	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Christchurch	85/1556		15 April 1885	Registrar Marriages J. M. Makerrow
123	16 April 1885	Robert Thompson Elizabeth Patterson	Robert Thompson Elizabeth Patterson 💍 1885/1556	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar Office, Christchurch	85/1557		16 April 1885	Registrar Marriages J. M. Makerrow

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).