1857 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840369, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 13 2024

Page 114

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1857

Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
July 6 1857	Charles Martin Harriet Marsh	Charles Martin Harriet Marsh 💍 1857/2053	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 20	Papanui Riccarton	5 years 6 years	Temporary Church Christchurch	July 6 1857	Ven. Archdeacon Mathias
July 9 1857	Thomas Rowley Emily Eliza Marianne Mathews	Thomas Rowley Emily Eliza Marianne Mathias 💍 1857/2176	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	25 18	Riccarton do	4 years 6 years	Riccarton Church	July 22 1857	Rev. W. W. Willock & Christchurch
July 22 1857	Thomas Evenden Catherine McDonald	Thomas Evenden Catherine Macdonald 💍 1857/2149	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nurse	31 31	Christchurch do		Private House Christchurch	July 22 1857	Rev. C. Frazer
August 1 1857	Samuel Clarkson Sarah Ellen Lodge	Samuel Clarkson Sarah Elizabeth Lodge 💍 1857/2164	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 18	Christchurch Heathcote Valley		Avonside Church	August 1 1857	Rev. C. Mackie
Aug: 4 1857	George Innes Ann Cameron	George Innes Anne Cameron 💍 1857/2152	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Domestic Servant	26 23	Christchurch Heathcote Valley	6 years 18 months	Rev. C. Frazers House Christchurch	Aug 4 1857	Rev. C. Frazer
Aug 4 1857	Thomas Stokes Mary Wilkinson	Thomas Stokes Mary Wilkinson 💍 1857/2167	Confederate Pensioner Bachelor	Dressmaker	27	Christchurch	2 years	Avonside Church	Aug 18 1857	Rev. C. Mackie
Aug 8 1857	Edward John Jones Fanny Pursey	Edward John Jones Fanny Pursey 💍 1857/2170	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant	29 20	Christchurch Ferry Road	6 months 6 years	Avonside Church	Aug 22 1857	Rev. C. Mackie
Aug 12 1857	George Harrison Davis Emma Wheeler	George Harrison Davis Emma Wheeler 💍 1857/2056	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	20 29	Lower Lincoln Road do	6 months	Temporary Church Christchurch	Aug 29 1857	Ven. O. Mathias
Aug 20 1857	Christopher George Hodgson Katherine Mary Walker Shaw	Christopher George Hodgson Katherine Mary Walker Shand 💍 1857/2059	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	29 20	Riccarton	10 days 2 years	Temporary Church Christchurch	Aug 29 1857	Ven. O. Mathias
Aug 31 1857	Hermann Buesmann Jane Shayler	Herman Buisman Jane Shaylor 💍 1857/2122	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 30	Heathcote district Heathcote district	18 months 14 months	Revd C Frazer's house Christchurch	31August 1857	Rev. C. Frazer
Sept 7 1857	William Beechey Letitia Willoughby	William Beechey Letitia Wilbee 💍 1857/2125	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	21 24	Lyttelton Christchurch	7 years 5 years	Rev. C. Frazers House Christchurch	Sept 9 1857	Rev. C. Frazer
Sept 16 1857	John Hobbs Jane Barfoot	John Hobbs Jane Barber 💍 1857/2092	Widower Widow	Labourer Tailoress	32 39	Lower Lincoln Road do	15 months	Rev. C. Frazers House Christchurch	Sept 16 1857	Rev. C. Frazer
16 September 1857	Thomas Atkinson Martha Jane Bassett	[No matching marriage registration has been located]	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 7 years	Mr. Allfrey's House Christchurch	17 September 1857	Rev. J. Aldred
Sept 18 1857	John Hobbs Jane Barfoot	John Hobbs Jane Barber 💍 1857/2092	Widower Widow	Labourer Tailoress	32 39	Lower Lincoln Road do	9 months	Registrars Office Christchurch	Sept 18 1857	The Registrar
Sept 19 1857	Edwin Reece Rebecca Gibbs	Edwin Pearce Rebecca Gibbs 💍 1857/2208	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 17	Christchurch Papanui	15 months 6 years	Papanui Church	Oct 3 1857	Rev. B. Bradley
Sept 30 1857	Joseph Richards Elizabeth Coster	Joseph Richards Elizabeth Coster 💍 1857/2205	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 20	Papanui do	6 years 6 years	Papanui Church	Sept 30 1857	Rev. B. Bradley

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).