Intentions to Marry, 1859

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840371, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 12 2024

Page 168

District of [UNCLEAR] Quarter ending 30 June 1859

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
10	6 May 1859	Thomas Newton Sarah Ann Derbridge	Thomas Newton Sarah Ann Durbridge 💍 1859/1797	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	30 20	Christchurch do	4 days 3 days	Ferry Road Church		May 18 1859	Rev. J. Cotherill
11	11 May 1859	James Meldrum Margaret Pickering	James Meldrum Margaret Pickering 💍 1859/2985	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	35 23	Christchurch do	3 days 6 months	At Mr Wraith's House, Casterton		May 31 1859	Rev. C. Frazer
12	12 May 1859	William Bennett Mary Stokes	William Bennett Mary Stokes 💍 1859/1872	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 21	Riccarton do	4 months 4 months	Riccarton Church		May 12 1859	Rev. C. Bowen
13	21 May 1859	Henry Albert Barton Amelia Mercy Pratt	Henry Albert Barton Amelia Mercy Pratt 💍 1859/1845	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 18	Lower Lincoln Rd do	1 year 8 months	Scotch Church Christchurch	Henry Pratt, Father	May 24 1859	Rev. C. Frazer
14	23 May 1859	Francis Jollie Jane Cooper	Francis Jollie Jane Cooper 💍 1859/1794	Bachelor Widow	Gentleman	43 44	Christchurch Upper Heathcote	4 days 4 months	Riccarton Church		May 23 1859	Rev. C. Bowen
15	25 May 1859	James Dowling Rogers Amy Morgan	James Dowling Rogers Amy Morgan 💍 1859/1860	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	25 21	Heathcote Valley do	3 days 4 years	Christchurch, Ferry Church		May 25 1859	Venb. O. Mathias
16	30 May 1859	Guy Stephen Second Martha Dunford	Guy Stephen Secord Martha Dunford 💍 1859/1179	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 18	Rakaia do	6 months 6 years	Quay Church Christchurch		June 2 1859	Rev. C. Frazer
17	30 May 1859	William Dunford Lucy Guest	William Dunford Lucy Guest 💍 1859/1842	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	21 23	Rakaia do	2 years 6 months	Scotch Church Christchurch	William Dunford, Father	June 2 1859	Rev. C. Frazer
18	2 June 1859	John Samuel Browning Mary Jane Collender	John Samuel Browning Mary Jane Collenden 💍 1859/1481	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	28 25	Christchurch do	5 days 3 years	Avonside Church		June 2 1859	Rev. C. Fendall
19	6 June 1859	David McCune Agnes Moore	David McCane Agnes Moore 💍 1859/1923	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 22	Christchurch do	6 months 6 months	House, Christchurch		June 20 1859	Rev. C. Frazer
20	7 June 1859	Charles Whithill Sarah Boulton	Charles Withill Sarah Boulton 💍 1859/1851	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 24	Riccarton do	2 years 4 years	Riccarton Church		June 21 1859	Rev. C. Bowen
21	8 June 1859	James Mann Annie Asher	James Mann Annie Asher 💍 1859/1848	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	26 21	Christchurch do	3 1/2 years 4 years	Mr H. S. Alport House, Christchurch		June 8 1859	Rev. C. Frazer
22	15 June 1859	Thomas Thompson Jane Watson	Thomas Thompson Jane Watson 💍 1859/2087	Widower Widow	Lawyer	41 40	Christchurch do	7 months 7 months	Temporary Church Christchurch		June 15 1859	Venb. O. Mathias
23	29 June 1859	Frederic Augustus Bishop Mary Frances Riva	Frederic Augustus Bishop Mary Frances Kiver 💍 1859/1917	Bachelor Spinster	Store Keeper	39 19	Christchurch do	8 1/2 years 6 years	Temporary Church Christchurch	Charles River, Father	June 30 1859	Venb. O. Mathias

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).