Intentions to Marry, 1863

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840375, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 4 2024

Page 157

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 September 1863

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
459	7 September 1863	William Barnett Mary Symons	William George Barnett Mary Symons 💍 1863/7940	Bachelor Spinster	Ferryman	24 18	Wanganui Wanganui	20 years 3 years	At the Residence of Mr. B. Allsworth, Parakina		George B. Allsworth, Father	7 September 1863	Rev. R. S. Allsworth
469	6 July 1863	John Watson Riddle Margaret Ann Dunn	John Carroll Margaret Dunn 💍 1864/8856	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 19	Wanganui Wanganui	8 years 8 years	At the Residence	469	David Riddle, Father	6 July 1863	Rev. J. Hogg
470	16 September 1863	Charles Hart Ashforth Maria Huntly Diffidence	Charles Hart Ashforth Maria Huntly Liffiton 💍 1863/7976	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 18	Wanganui Wanganui	6 months 7 years	At the Residence of Mr. Hogg, Wanganui		Caroline Diffidence, Mother	16 September 1863	Rev. J. Hogg
470a	16 September 1863	Alexander Murray Ann Cameron	Alexr Murray Anne Cameron 💍 1863/7979	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	over over	Wanganui Wanganui	11 years 3 years	At the Residence of Mr. Taylor, Wanganui		Martin Taylor, Father	16 September 1863	Rev. J. Hogg
471	25 September 1863	Edward Joseph Dickins Lydia Jackson	Edwin Joseph Hosking Lydia Jackson 💍 1863/7982	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	28 21	Wanganui Wanganui	5 years 3 years	At the Residence of Mr. Rankin, Wanganui			25 September 1863	Rev. J. Hogg
477	10 August 1863	Arthur Webster Winstead Louisa Adelaide Harrison	Arthur Wicksteed Louisa Adelaide Harrison 💍 1863/8000	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 30	Wanganui Wanganui	10 years 10 years	At the Church Wanganui			10 August 1863	Rev. Chas. S. Nicholls
478	2 September 1863	Andrew Nicholson Belinda P. Waldew	Andrew Nicholson Magrath Belinda Phoebe Waldon 💍 1863/8003	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	over over	Maninatu Parakina	7 years 3 years	At the Residence of Mr. Hogg, Wanganui	459	Humphrey Nicholson, Father	2 September 1863	Rev. C. Nicholls
480	25 September 1863	James McFarlane Catherine Howard	James McFarlane Catherine Howard 💍 1863/8009	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	30 20	Wanganui Wanganui	1 1/2 years 14 years	Catholic Chapel			25 September 1863	Rev. J. Beguelin
481	12 August 1863	Henry Bryden Roberts Sarah Porter	Henry Boydon Roberts Sarah Porter 💍 1863/8012	Widower Spinster	Solicitor	over over	Wanganui Wanganui	10 years 9 years	Church Putiki			12 August 1863	Rev. B. Taylor
487	8 September 1863	Henry Reed Ann Dyer	Henry Revel Anne Dyer 💍 1863/8024	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	27 24	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 7 years	At the Residence of Mr. Rankin, Wanganui			8 September 1863	Rev. W. Watkin
	31 July 1863	John Bright Grace Robinson	John Wright Grace Robinson 💍 1863/7973	Bachelor Spinster	Private in H.M. 57th Regt.	28 18	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 5 years	At the Church	469a	Thomas Hummer and J. Holt, Guardian	31 July 1863	Rev. J. Hogg

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).