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 251

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1863

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
9	2 April 1863	James Elliot Thomson Catherine Sheath	James Elliot Thomson Catherine Sheath 💍 1863/6591	Bachelor Spinster	Stockman	24 19	Christchurch Do	1 week 3 days	Roman Catholic Chapel	Barbara Sheath, mother of a minor	5 April 1863	Rev. Chataigner
10	4 April 1863	John Physical Thilla Louisa Smith		Bachelor Spinster	Stockman	34 32	Rockwood Do	10 years 6 months	Rockwood		4 April 1863	Rev. O. Mathias
11	5 April 1863	James Cotter Joanna Markly	James Cotter Joanna Murphy 💍 1863/6588	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper Servant	22 23	Christchurch Do	9 weeks 3 months	Roman Catholic Church		5 April 1863	Rev. Chataigner
12	5 April 1863	John Beatty Agnes McQuinn	John Beattie Agnes McGannon 💍 1863/4006	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 19	North Road Christchurch	1 year 3 months	Scotch Church		5 April 1863	Rev. C. Frazer
13	8 April 1863	John Norris Tomkies Adelaide Rosaline Friday	John Morris Tosswill Adelaide Rosaline Fereday 💍 1863/6459	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 31	Prebbleton Oakley Station	5 years 5 years	St Michael Ch Ch	Mary Gebbie, mother of bride	11 April 1863	Rev. H. B. Cocks
14	11 April 1863	John Williams Marion Gebbie	John Williams Marion Gebbie 💍 1863/4009	Bachelor Spinster	Draughtsman House servant	29 18	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 4 days	Mrs Williams house Christchurch	Mary Gebbie, mother, Greensland	11 April 1863	Rev. C. Frazer
15	11 April 1863	Dennis Mahony Joanna Kennedy	Denys Mahony Joanna Kennedy 💍 1863/6594	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	37 32	Christchurch Do	3 months 3 months	Roman Catholic Chapel Christchurch		11 April 1863	Rev. Chataigner
16	11 April 1863	George Sands Eliza Ann Williams	George Sands Eliza Emma Williams 💍 1863/6426	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	33 31	Christchurch Do	3 years 2 1/2 years	Mr Sands house Christchurch		11 April 1863	Rev. Buller
17	14 April 1863	James Hinds Mary Ann Thomas	James Hines Mary Ann Thomas 💍 1863/4012	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Servant	21 17	Ferry Road Do	1 year 1/2 year	Mr Williams house Ferry Road		16 April 1863	Rev. C. Frazer
18	15 April 1863	James Reynolds Julia Joblin	James Reynolds Julia Joblin 💍 1863/4039	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	23 24	Stanmore Rd Do	3 months 3 weeks	Avonside Church	Susan Joblin, mother of bride	15 April 1863	Rev. H. Harper
19	18 April 1863	William Oscar Steer Lydia Amelia Martin	William Ogier Lydia Amelia Martin 💍 1863/4018	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 18	Christchurch Do	3 years 3 years	Rev. C. Frazer house Christchurch		18 April 1863	Rev. C. Frazer
20	20 April 1863	Robert Burns Forting McFarland		Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	24 22	Coringa Station The Briells	4 weeks 1 week	The Briells		20 April 1863	Rev. C. Frazer

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).