Intentions to Marry, 1861

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840373, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 11 2024

Page 235

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1861

No	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
127	05 July 1861	George William Hill Selina Fanny German	George William Hills Selina Fanny Clemens 💍 1861/3508	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic Servant	21 26	Christchurch do	9 1	Avonside Church	05 July 1861	Rev C. Mackie
128	08 July 1861	John Lister Sarah Martin	John Lister Sarah Martin 💍 1861/3419	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	28 27	Lower Riccarton Christchurch	1 week 2 months	St Michael's	08 July 1861	The Bishop of Christchurch
129	08 July 1861	Henry Dobbs Harriet Clark	Henry Dobbs Harriet Clark 💍 1861/3542	Widower Widow	Farmer Housekeeper	59 49	Coringa Station do	5 years 3 years	Rev Frazer's HOuse, Christchurch	22 July 1861	Rev C. Frazer
130	09 July 1861	William Tassie Isabella Sussanna Goldsmith	William Tassie Isabella Susanna Goldschmidt 💍 1861/3422	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	43 22	Christchurch do	3 days 4 days	St Michael's	09 July 1861	The Bishop of Christchurch
131	16 July 1861	Thomas Pavitt Harriet Rosetta Abbott	Thomas Pavitt Harriette Rosetta Abbott 💍 1861/1841	Bachelor Spinster	Timber Merchant	25 21	Christchurch Papanui	10 years 1 year	St Michael's	16 July 1861	The Bishop of Christchurch
132	31 July 1861	Samuel Dufty Annie Newcomb	Samuel Dufty Annie Newcombe 💍 1861/3548	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	30 28	do Christchurch	12 1 1/2 years	St Andrews	31 July 1861	Rev C. Frazer
133	02 August 1861	George Walcock Ell Eliza Elizabeth Ather	George Waldock Ell Eliza Elizabeth Atkins 💍 1861/3220	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 20	Christchurch do	2 years 1 1/2 years	Mr Lewis's House	02 August 1861	Rev Buller
134	05 August 1861	Leonard Stace Jesse Den	Leonard Stace Jessey Denne 💍 1861/3510	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	28 21	Christchurch do	3 days 3 days	Avonside Church	05 August 1861	Rev C. Mackie
135	06 August 1861	Patrick Cunneen Margaret O'Grady	Pattrick Cunneen Margaret O'Grady 💍 1861/3478	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	27 23	Christchurch do	1 1/2 years 2 weeks	Roman Catholic Church	06 August 1861	Rev. Seon
136	10 August 1861	Timothy Shea Mary Fevre	Timoty Shea Mary Farrel 💍 1861/3481	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	32 28	Papanui Christchurch	1 1/2 years 1 month	Roman Catholic Church	10 August 1861	Rev. Seon

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).