1862 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840374, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 256

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1862

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
167	3 February 1862	Francis Sisson Mary Elliott	Francis Sisson Mary Elliot 💍 1862/3804	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 17	Papanui	3 years 2 years	Registrar's Office	Joseph Elliott, Father	3 February 1862
168	7 February 1862	Joseph Wood Mary Jane Calvas	Joseph Wood Mary Jane Calvert 💍 1862/3830	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 2 years	Wesleyan Church	William Calvas, Father	21 February 1862	Rev. Moller
169	7 February 1862	John Studholme Lucy Ellen Sykes Moorhouse	John Studholme Lucy Ellen Sykes Moorhouse 💍 1862/3901	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	32 23	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 3 years	St. Michael's Church		7 February 1862	Rev. F. Mathias
170	12 February 1862	John Foreman Adelaide Geka	John Foreman Adelaide Geka 💍 1862/3871	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic Servant	31 29	Christchurch Riccarton	3 days 3 weeks	Riccarton Church		12 February 1862	Rev. C. Bowen
171	13 February 1862	John Dix Mary Ann Warner	John Dix Mary Ann Warner 💍 1862/3904	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	32 21	Ferry Road Do	1 year 1 year	St. Michael's Church		13 February 1862	Ven. Arch. Mathias
172	17 February 1862	Charles Parsons Sarah Ann Wade	Charles Parsons Sarah Ann Wade 💍 1862/3460	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Nursemaid	25 19	Christchurch Do	6 months 3 years	Avonside Church	Abraham Wade, Father	18 February 1862	Rev. C. Mackie
173	21 February 1862	Edwin Challinor Sarah Ann Hancock	Edwin Challinor Sarah Ann Hannah 💍 1862/3612	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 10 days	St. Michael's Church		21 February 1862	Rev. H. Jacobs
174	21 February 1862	Joseph Lees Withnall Rachel Ellen Moffatt	Joseph Leese Withnall Rachel Ellen Moffat 💍 1862/4036	Bachelor Spinster	Bookkeeper	29 18	Christchurch Mr. Waugh's Station, Grey District	3 years 2 years	House, Mount Grey District		February 1862	Rev. B. Dudley
175	1 March 1862	James Sinclair Ann McKay	James Sinclair Ann Mackay 💍 1862/3722	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	25 22	Grey House, Mount Grey	1 month 3 years	House, Mount Grey		1 March 1862	Rev. Cruger
176	12 March 1862	David Audum Elizabeth Bell	David Anderson Elizabeth Bell 💍 1862/3833	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic Servant	28 22	Christchurch Jones' Staff	4 years 2 years	House, Christchurch		12 March 1862	Rev. Buller
177	17 March 1862	James Carr Elizabeth Earley	James Carr Elizabeth Early 💍 1862/3466	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic Servant	27 20	Christchurch Avonside, Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Avonside Church	Samuel Earley, Father	17 April 1862	Rev. C. Mackie
178	20 March 1862	Thomas Proper Hannah Gapes	Thomas Prosser Hannah Gapes 💍 1862/3615	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic Servant	36 24	Christchurch Do	3 days 1 week	St. Michael's Church		20 March 1862	Rev. Oldham
179	22 March 1862	Richard Walker Sarah Ann Langoulan	Richard Walker Sarah Ann Lanjoulan 💍 1862/3874	Widower Widow	Farmer	57 47	Water Hole Fern Dale	1 year 1 year	Riccarton Church		March 22	Rev. C. Bowen

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).