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 572

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
89	19 March 1885	Joseph Patrick Christina Vannie		Bachelor Spinster	Salesman Servant	28 23	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 5 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	85/605		19 March 1885	Rev. W. Harper
90	19 March 1885	James Rogers Jemima Warren	James Rogers Emma Warren 💍 1885/2747	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	50 41	Templeton West Melton	24 years 3 years	Church of England, West Melton	85/1468		19 March 1885	Rev. W. Dunkley
91	20 March 1885	Richard Hayward Elizabeth Longdean	Richard Hayward Elizabeth Longden 💍 1885/583	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 19	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 1 year	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	85/589	Matthew Longdean, Father	20 March 1885	Registrar of Marriages
92	20 March 1885	Donald Colson Mary Everard	Donald Olson Mary Overend 💍 1885/1972	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Dressmaker	39 20	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 1 year	Presbyterian Church, Christchurch	85/1607	No person having authority	20 March 1885	Rev. C. H. Garland
93	20 March 1885	William John Varcoe Jane Marsack	William John Varcoe Jane Marsack 💍 1885/1559	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 27	Harewood Road Harewood Road	4 months 4 months	House of William Varcoe, Harewood Road	85/1601		20 March 1885	Wesleyan
94	21 March 1885	William Hall Susan Coleman	William Hall Susan Coleman 💍 1885/571 William F Proline Sarah Coleman 💍 1885/1066	Widower Widow	Carrier Housekeeper	55 40	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 16 years	Methodist Chapel, Cambridge Terrace	85/600		21 March 1885	Rev. J. Ward
95	21 March 1885	William Canner Jane Gutter	William Canner Jane Sutter 💍 1885/630	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller Housekeeper	34 42	Christchurch Sydenham	17 years 17 years	House of Rev. R. Best, Worcester Street	85/561		21 March 1885	Rev. R. Best
96	23 March 1885	Thomas George Kate Noyee	Thomas George William Pearce Kate Voyce 💍 1885/644	Widower Widow	Railway Porter Housekeeper	42 42	Sydenham Sydenham	6 years 2 years	House of Thomas Voyce, Colombo Road	85/624		23 March 1885	Rev. J. S. Gilmore
97	23 March 1885	Alexander Smith Agnes Hunter	Alexander Smith Agnes Hunter 💍 1885/1480	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 5 years	House of Joseph Smith, 249 Cashel Street	85/1502		23 March 1885	Rev. J. Christie

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).