Intentions to Marry, 1886

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840398, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 632

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1886

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
155	27 April 1886	Arthur Spring Mary Creeman	Arthur Spring Mary Cresman 💍 1886/1520	Widower Spinster	Laborer Servant	44 35	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 6 years	Roman Catholic Church	86/1404		27 April 1886	Rev. D. McGuity
156	27 April 1886	Aaron Merrin Margaret Young	Aaron Merrin Margaret Young 💍 1886/161 John Aitchison Margaret Young 💍 1886/1797	Bachelor Spinster	Woolclasser Weaver	37 35	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 5 days	Registrars Office	86/1430		27 April 1886	Registrar Manager J. M. Parkerson
157	28 April 1886	Edward Blue Prior Rose Ellen Mary Williams	Edward Elen Prior Rose Ellen Mary Williams 💍 1886/3405	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist Spinster	20 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 6 months	St. Johns Church	86/1464	No person having Authority to Consent	12 May 1886	Rev. R. C. Evvay
158	28 April 1886	Walter Codling Mary Agnes O'Connor	Walter Codling Mary Agnes OConnor 💍 1886/1541	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	34 25	St. Albans St. Albans	22 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church	86/1474		28 April 1886	Rev. J. O'S. Hoare
159	28 April 1886	Alaric Alexander Dissman Ada Emily Foster	Alaric Alexander Lissaman Ada Emily Foster 💍 1886/1503	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist Spinster	35 27	Christchurch Leithfield	3 days 1 year	St. Michaels Church	86/1411		28 April 1886	Rev. W. Harper
160	28 April 1886	Horace Summer Amy Durie		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Spinster	28 28	Riccarton St. Lukes	21 years 21 years	St. Lukes Church	86/1459		28 April 1886	Rev. Arch. Lingard
161	1 May 1886	John Philip Rowell Rosannah Parish	John Philip Rowell Rosannah Parish 💍 1886/1548	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Spinster	25 22	Springston Christchurch	15 years 22 years	Springston Church	86/1458		1 May 1886	Rev. A. R. D. Mossman
162	4 May 1886	Francis Philip Le Breton Susan Theresa Amelia Everitt	Francis Philip Le Breton Susan Theresa Amelia Everitt 💍 1886/162	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	39 20	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 10 years	Registrars Office	86/1431	Jonathan Everitt, Father	4 May 1886	Registrar Manager J. M. Parkerson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).