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 228

District of Christchurch Quarter ending [UNCLEAR] March 185[UNCLEAR]

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
85	04 February 18[UNCLEAR]	Chas Jeffs Mary Gascoigne	Charles Jeffs Mary Gaskill 💍 1861/3524	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	31 21	Ferry Road do	10 years 9 [UNCLEAR]	St Andrews Ch.Ch.		04 February	C. Frager
86	05 February 18[UNCLEAR]	Benjamin Balmer Rosa Ann Ely Smith	Benjamin Balmer Rosa Ann Elizabeth Smith 💍 1861/3527	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 25	Christchurch do	1 week 6 do	For Pyes house Christchurch		05 February	C. Frager
87	07 February 1861	William Gregg Elizth Rankin	William Greig Elizabeth Rankin 💍 1861/1708	Widower Spinster	Mason Servant	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	2 mths 3 days	St Andrews Christchurch		07 February 1861	C. Fraser
88	12 February 1861	Luke Marnall Eliza Maher	Luke Marnel Elisa Maher 💍 1861/3472	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	32 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 mths 6 mths	Roman Catholic Chapel		12 February 1861	Rev Seor
89	15 February 18[UNCLEAR]	Robert Taylor Susan Barwell	Robert Taylor Susan Barwell 💍 1861/1630	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 20	do do	10 days 10 do	C Frazers house		15 February	C. Frager
90	23 February 1861	Wm Charlesworth Ha Jane Riddick	William Charlesworth Hannah Jane Reddick 💍 1861/3442	Bachelor Spinster	Captain	43 28	Heathcote district Christchurch	1 year 3 days	Registrar office Christchurch		23 February 1861	Registrar Christchurch
91	25 February 18[UNCLEAR]	Benjamin Button Julia Money	Benjamin Button Julia Doris Money 💍 1861/3395	Bachelor Spinster	Painter [UNCLEAR]	27 26	do do	4 years 3 do	St Michael Ch. Ch.		25 February	C. Alabaster
92	02 March 18[UNCLEAR]	Fredk Wright Letitia Bloor	Frederick Wright Letitia Bloor 💍 1861/3533	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	26 20	do do	20 days 3 do	Mr Garlicks house, Windmill Road	John Bloor, Government ......, Father	02 March	C. Frazer
93	02 March 1861	Chas Jackson Sarah Jane Murray	[No matching marriage registration has been located]	Bachelor Spinster	Potter	24 19	Christchurch Papanui	10 years 2 years	Papanui Church	Jane Raddon Island Papanui Mother	04 March 1861	G. Cotterill
94	04 March 1861	James Edwd Woodford Mary Jane Bigham	James Edward Woodforde Mary Jane Bigham 💍 1861/3251	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	31 25	Christchurch Lyttelton	10 mths 5 days	Lyttelton Church		04 March 1861	Rev Knowles
95	12 March 18[UNCLEAR]	William Mann Emily Catherine Brown	Thomas William Maude Emily Catherine Brown 💍 1861/3686	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber [UNCLEAR]	28 18	Ch. Ch. Mt Thomas St	6 years 10 do	Int Thomas [UNCLEAR]	Mr. [UNCLEAR] Father	12 March	C. Alabaster
96	18 March 18[UNCLEAR]	Enoch Henry Banks Emma Cullen	Enoch Henry Banks Emma Cullen 💍 1861/3398	Bachelor Spinster	Merchantman Milliner	25 21	Ch. Ch. do	2 years 3 do	Somerset		18 March	C. Alabaster
97	[UNCLEAR] March 18[UNCLEAR]	George Purley Sarah Flunk	George Piercy Sarah Flint 💍 1861/3404	Bachelor Spinster	Groom [UNCLEAR]	31 25	do do	4 years 3 do	Somerset		[UNCLEAR] March	C. Alabaster

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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).