Intentions to Marry, 1889

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840401, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 634

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1889

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
125	16 April 1889	John Williams Evangeline Fairbrass	John Williams Evangeline Fairbrass 💍 1889/1480	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 14 days	Registered Office	89/1474	Fairbrass, Father	16 April 1889	Registrar of Marriages J M Vausesson
126	17 April 1889	Henry Roberts Ellen Elizabeth Hitchens	Henry Roberts Ellen Elizabeth Hitchcox 💍 1889/1414	Widower Spinster	Hairdresser	38 25	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 2 years	House of Henry Roberts, Victoria St.	89/1404		17 April 1889	Rev H. V. Redstone, Methodist
127	17 April 1889	Walter Gasson Mary Fox	Walter Gasson Mary Fox 💍 1889/1479	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	21 24	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 24 years	Registered Office	89/1478		17 April 1889	Registrar of Marriages J M Vausesson
128	17 April 1889	James Weller Alice Maria Marshall	James Weller Alice Maria Marshall 💍 1889/1410	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 20 years	St. Lukes Church	89/1401	Marshall, Father	17 April 1889	Ven Archdeacon Lingard, Church of England
129	17 April 1889	Arthur James Yarrant Esther Church	Arthur James Tarrant Esther Church 💍 1889/1623	Widower Spinster	Dealer Servant	33 23	Christchurch Addington	6 years 23 years	House of John Church	89/1437		17 April 1889	Rev J Edwards, Methodist
130	18 April 1889	Rose Henry Jane Thomas		Spinster Spinster	Servant Servant	19 18	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 14 years	House of Thomas de Rusett	89/1405	Thomas de Rusett, Father	18 April 1889	Rev H. V. Redstone, Methodist
131	20 April 1889	David William Smart Isabella Richie Joss	David William Smart Isabella Ritchie Joss 💍 1889/1455	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	24 29	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 7 years	St. Andrews Church, Tuam Street	89/1424		20 April 1889	Rev G. Webster, Presbyterian
132	20 April 1889	John Edward Moore Maria Smellen	John Edward Moore Maria Snedden 💍 1889/1483	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	20 19	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 14 years	Registered Office	89/1477	David Smellen, Father	20 April 1889	Registrar of Marriages J M Vausesson

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).