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 240

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 March 1889 Registrar J. M. Ollivier

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
151	15 January 1889	John Moffat Annie Poppo	John Moffat Annie Papps 💍 1889/3570	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	41 29	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 16 days	Church of Good Shepherd	89/547	15 January 1889	Rev. H. J. C. Gilbert, Church of England
152	15 January 1889	William Reed Annie Knight	William Reid Annie Knight 💍 1889/477	Bachelor Widow	Confectioner	34 27	Christchurch Christchurch	1 month 11 years	Registrars Office	89/565	15 January 1889	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Ollivier
153	15 January 1889	Daniel Oliver Jane Morton Drew	Daniel Oliver Falrey Jane Morton Drew 💍 1889/391	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	30 21	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 4 years	Presbyterian Church	89/503	15 January 1889	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian
154	16 January 1889	William Buchanan Alice Grace Burbidge	William Buchanan Alice Grace Burbidge 💍 1889/478	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 1 year	Registrars Office	89/566	16 January 1889	Registrars Office, Christchurch
155	17 January 1889	Stephen Thomas Hunt Maryetta Gribbon	Stephen Thomas Hunt Margretta Gribbon 💍 1889/393	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	36 27	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 11 years	St. Luke's Church	89/505	17 January 1889	Rev. Archd. Lingard, Church of England
156	17 January 1889	Hugh Gribbonton Graham Mary Ann Daniel	Hugh Gile Martin Graham Mary Ann Daniel 💍 1889/476	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	35 25	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 25 years	House of Wm. Daniel	89/546	17 January 1889	Rev. R. W. Gregor, Presbyterian
157	18 January 1889	Arnold Booth Sophia Willis	Arnold Berchdolt Sophia Willis 💍 1889/479	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Registrars Office	89/567	18 January 1889	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Ollivier
158	22 January 1889	Charles Law Minnie Mary Eleanor Willett	Charles Law Milne Mary Elanor Willett 💍 1889/460	Widower Spinster		23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 10 days	Merivale Church	89/525	22 January 1889	Rev. J. Flavell, Church of England

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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).