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 556

District of Christchurch Quarter ending

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
208	22 June 1885	Edward Wallis Ellen Cairns	Edward Wallis Ellen Cairns 💍 1885/2399	Bachelor Spinster					Register Marriage Office			6 July 1885	J. M. Kesson
212	24 June 1885	Joseph Richards Eleanor Swift	Joseph Richards Eleanor Swift 💍 1885/2329	Widower Spinster					Church of England			8 July 1885	Rev. Z. A. Lingard
225	1 July 1885	William Baker Ellen Meaham	William Baker Ellen Mahaney 💍 1885/2341	Bachelor Widow	Butcher	27 29	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 11 years	House of William Baker, Lincoln Road	85/2460		1 July 1885	Rev. H. W. Redstone
226	3 July 1885	Charles Hodges Bridget Gavin	Charles Hodges Bridget Gavin 💍 1885/3859	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years	Roman Catholic Church	85/2486	W. Person having authority to consent	18 July 1885	Rev. J. McGuinity
227	3 July 1885	Andrew Grego Martha Turner	Andrew Giugo Martha Turner 💍 1885/2398	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman Servant	31 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 2 years	Registrar's Office	85/2571		3 July 1885	J. M. Kesson
228	3 July 1885	Thomas Jones Charlotte Chainey	Thomas Jones Anna Charlotte Chainey 💍 1885/2482	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Dressmaker	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 22 years	House of Thomas Deans, North Belt	85/3369		3 July 1885	Rev. J. J. Lewis
229	4 July 1885	Matthew Anderson Rebecca Viner	Matthew Anderson Livingstone Emma Rebecca Viger 💍 1885/3340	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 20	Livingstone & Timaru Christchurch	6 years 19 years	House of Rev. J. Elmslie, Lichfield Street	85/2489	Richard Porter Viner, Father	4 July 1885	Rev. J. Elmslie
230	4 July 1885	William Lavers Elizabeth Luscombe	William Adams Elizabeth Lucas 💍 1885/2299 William Barr Elizabeth Dickson 💍 1885/3733 William Frazer Elizabeth Steedman 💍 1885/204 William Watson Elizabeth Boyce 💍 1885/1303 William Tyler Elizabeth Ann Jones 💍 1885/3731 William Bailey Elizabeth Brickley 💍 1885/3023 William Sime Elizabeth Page 💍 1885/3227 William Caldwell Elizabeth Rennie 💍 1885/2184 William Birkett Elizabeth Burling 💍 1885/2240	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 35	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 4 days	Registrar's Office	85/3368		4 July 1885	J. M. Kesson
231	6 July 1885	William Henry Annie Clement	William Ryan Annie Casey 💍 1885/1349 William Jones Annie O'Keefe 💍 1885/2063 William Guy Annie Osborne 💍 1885/648	Bachelor Spinster	Freeman Servant	33 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 months	House of W. Horrocks	85/3368		6 July 1885	Rev. J. Elmslie

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).