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 158

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 Sept 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
33	10 August 1860	Thomas Harry Ranger Mary Ann Main	Thomas Henry Ranger Mary Ann Main 💍 1860/3564	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	27 17	Halfway House do	1 year 1 1/2 year	Halfway House, Gt South Road	James Main, Father	18 August 1860	Rev. C. Frazer
34	20 August 1860	James Hogan Amelia Edginton	James Hoggan Amelia Edginton 💍 1860/3567	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 26	Christchurch do	8 years 2 years	Mr. Hoggins House		August 20 1860	Rev. C. Frazer
35	22 August 1860	Michael Marshall Wyatt Caroline Glanville	No marriage. He married a different bride 2 Sep 1860.	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	22 25	Melcombe Farm Christchurch	5 years 1 year	Ward and Co's Christchurch		August 22 1860	Rev. C. Frazer
36	22 August 1860	William George Moore Susan Levett	William George Moore Susan Levett 💍 1860/3570	Bachelor Spinster	Postman	23 21	Christchurch do	1 year 2 years	St Andrews Manse		August 22 1860	Rev. C. Frazer
37	25 August 1860	Thelville Gibson Ann Elizabeth Layley	Melville Dickson Annie Elizabeth Layley 💍 1860/3621	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 23	Kaiapoi do	18 months 1 month	St. Michaels Church		August 25 1860	Lach. C. M. Reather
38	29 August 1860	Michael Marshall Wyatt Elizabeth Miran Waters Tompkins	Michael Marshall Wyatt Elizabeth Miram Waters Tompkins 💍 1860/3573	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Milliner	22 19	Melcombe Farm Christchurch	5 years 4 years	Mr. Tompkins House Christchurch	James Henry Tompkins, Father	August 29 1860	Rev. C. Frazer
39	6 September 1860	Alexander Reid Amelia Stevens	Alexander Reid Amelia Stevens 💍 1860/3335	Bachelor Spinster	2nd Officer S.S. "Wellington"	25 20	Christchurch do	3 days 8 days	St. Michaels Church	Thomas Stevens, Father	September 6 1860	Rev. C. Aldredter
40	6 September 1860	Thomas Carter Moorhouse Kate Bowron	Thomas Carter Moorhouse Kate Bowron 💍 1860/3338	Bachelor Spinster	Stockowner	29 20	Christchurch do	14 days 9 years	St. Michaels Church	George Bowron, Father	September 6 1860	Rev. C. Aldredter

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).