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 554

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
241	13 July 1885	John Nixon Catherine Jones	John Nixon Catherine Agnes Batchelor 💍 1885/2382	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 21	Heathcote Heathcote	12 years 3 years	Registrar's Office	85/2493		13 July 1885	Registrar
242	13 July 1885	Henry Hall Margaret Douglas Thompson	Henry Hall Margeret Douglas Thompson 💍 1885/2331	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	28 22	Christchurch Selwyn Terrace	22 years 3 days	House of Mr. Thompson	85/2477		13 July 1885	Rev. R. Taylor
243	14 July 1885	Christopher Joseph Johnson Nadine Rose		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	44 31	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 22 years	St. Johns Church	85/2530		14 July 1885	Rev. A. E. Wright
244	15 July 1885	Frederick Gapes Caroline Samson	Frederick Gapes Frances Alice Vyse Raine 💍 1885/2335	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 20 years	St. Lukes Church	85/2455	Thomas Raine, Father	15 July 1885	Rev. A. E. Wright
245	15 July 1885	Jonathan Checkley Ellen Jell	Jonathan Embling Ellen Peet 💍 1885/1073	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	20 28	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Merivale Church	85/2574		15 July 1885	Rev. J. T. Hewett
246	16 July 1885	Alexander Thomas Hopping Kate Adams	Alexander Thomas Topping Kate Adams 💍 1885/2415	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	33 24	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 10 years	St. Saviours Church	85/2527, 2552		16 July 1885	Rev. H. S. Cocks
247	17 July 1885	Heinrich Behrens Fanny Graskie	Heinrich Behren Fanny Graskie 💍 1885/2383	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	32 31	Tai Tapu Paparoa	10 years 1 year	Registrar's Office	85/2494		17 July 1885	Registrar J. M. Verrall
248	20 July 1885	John Keane Margaret Kelly	John Keane Margaret Kelly 💍 1885/2691	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	19 18	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 2 years	Roman Catholic Church	85/2856	Two persons having custody - To consent	5 August 1885	Rev. D. McGuinly
249	21 July 1885	James Page Frances Emily Thompson	James Page Frances Emily Thompson 💍 1885/2413	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 1 year	St. Johns Church	85/2531	Father	21 July 1885	Rev. A. E. Wright

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).