Intentions to Marry, 1860

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840372, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 105

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1860

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
3	2 April 1860	Henry Hurrill Hannah Watson	Henry Hurrell Hannah Watson 💍 1860/3653	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	29 25	Christchurch do	3 Days 2 Months	St Michaels Christchurch		April 3 1860	Ven Archdeacon Matthias
4	4 April 1860	Thomas Parke Sarah Hayhurst	James Parke Sarah Hayhurst 💍 1860/3600	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	26 23	Avonside do	2 Years 3 Years	Avonside Church		April 4 1860	Rev. Bradley
5	7 April 1860	Henry Elmer Clara Amelia Wheeler	Harry Ellmer Clara Amelia Wheeler 💍 1860/3546	Bachelor Spinster	Quarryman Domestic Servant	25 20	South Christchurch Road South Christchurch Road	4 Years 6 Months	Mr Ellmers House		April 7 1860	Rev. C. Frazer
6	9 April 1860	Richard Nicholas Elizabeth Griffith	Richard Nicholas Eliza Griffiths 💍 1860/3364	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker Cook	22 20	Christchurch Ham	9 Months 9 Months	Wesleyan Chapel Christchurch		April 24 1860	Rev. J. Aldred
7	14 April 1860	Michael Studholme Effiegemia Maria Louisa Channon	Michael Studholme Effiegenia Maria Louisa Channon 💍 1860/3659	Bachelor Spinster	Stockowner	27 22	Christchurch do	1 Month 1 Year	St Michaels Christchurch		April 14 1860	Ven Archdeacon Matthias
8	14 April 1860	Robert Goodrick Sophia Dalton	Robert Goodrick Sophia Dalton 💍 1860/3606	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Cook	29 25	Riccarton do	5 Years 9 Months	Riccarton Church		April 14 1860	Ven Archdeacon Matthias
9	16 April 1860	Luke John Cox Eliza Reynolds	Luke John Cox Eliza Reynolds 💍 1860/1928	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic Servant	25 28	Christchurch do	1 Year 2 Months	St Michaels Christchurch		April 16 1860	Rev. C. Alabaster
10	16 April 1860	John Henry Hewitt Emma Westwood	John Henry Hewitt Emma Westwood 💍 1860/3656	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright Domestic Servant	25 27	Christchurch do	1 Year 2 Months	St Michaels Christchurch		April 16 1860	Rev. C. Alabaster
11	23 April 1860	Alfred Fisher Julia Mepham Collender	Alfred Fisher Julia Messam Collender 💍 1860/3597	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 23	Christchurch do	3 Days 3 Months	Avonside Church		April 23 1860	Rev. C. Alabaster
12	2 May 1860	Joseph Ward Eliza Jackson	Joseph Ward Eliza Jackson 💍 1860/3361	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 19	Christchurch do	3 Days 1 Month	Mr Jackson's House, Lower Lincoln	John Jackson, Father	May 2 1860	Rev. J. Aldred

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).