Church lists weddings dating back to 1870

Press, 20 October 1981, Page 28

Church lists weddings dating back to 1870

Details of great-grand-parents are now within easy reach — if they were married at the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church in Christchurch. The National Council of Churches has completed a reference file of. all such marriages from 1870. to 1964. It includes the names, occupations, and birth places of the bride and bridegroom, the names and occupations of both sets of parents, and the names and addresses of the two witnesses at the marriage ceremony. Work on the file started four months ago after a suggestion by . the Rev. A. H. MacLeod, general. secretary of the National Council of Churches.

“It was a bigger job than

we anticipated, but now we have a full record of all those involved in the marriage ceremony,” he said. Two Project Employment Programme workers listed all the details from the marriage registers, “In a way I am glad that it is over,” said one of the P.E.P. workers, Miss Annette Marr.

“It was really tiring and confusing at first, but things got easier and faster as we went along.” Mr MacLeod said the council hoped to have files of marriages for other Churches later on. “At the moment our main interest is in the older churches that date back to 1870 or earlier. We have invited the Spreydon Baptist

Church to give us records of those marriages, so that may be our next target.”

Mr MacLeod said that some “interesting little things” cropped up now and again. “We discovered one couple who married twice — in different churches — within one week. There is a bit of a mystery there.” There were no problems apart from .some “scrawly writing.” In these cases they had to double check for accuracy, he said.

“We will be better prepared and equipped the next time around.”

The files are organised by the year and in alphabetical order.