Intentions to Marry, 1864

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840376, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 276

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1864

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
555	8 April 1864	Edward Strange Ann Eve Beal Simpson	Edward Strange Ann Eve Beal Simpson 💍 1864/7266	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 19	Christchurch Do	6 mos 4 days	Mr Swanges house	940	None	8 April 1864	Rev C Fraser
556	9 April 1864	Joseph Fuss Catherine Klynn	Joseph Fuss Catharine Klynn 💍 1864/7392	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	27 24	Christchurch Do	8 mos	Roman Catholic Chapel	927	None	9 April 1864	Rev Chataigner
557	9 April 1864	Eli Love Fanny Everest	Eli Lowe Fanny Everest 💍 1864/7269	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 18	Springs Track Lake Ellesmere	2 yrs 4 yrs	St Andrews Ch	997	Daniel Everest, Father	April 1864	Rev C Fraser
558	9 April 1864	Arthur Evans Emily Gillham	Arthur Nathan Evans Emily Gillam 💍 1864/7565	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	24 24	Christchurch Do	9 mos 9 mos	St Michaels Ch	868		9 April 1864	Rev H Jacobs
559	9 April 1864	Michael Hamilton Esther Bagley	Michael Hamilton Esther Bagley 💍 1864/7401	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 20	Christchurch Do	1 1/2 8 mos	Roman Catholic Chapel	930	None	30 April 1864	Rev Chataigner
560	9 April 1864	Arthur Hilmitt-am Allnutt Mary Anne Tate	Arthur Almutt Mary Anne Tate 💍 1864/4152	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Cook	23 22	Riccarton Do	4 mos 4 mos	Riccarton Parish Church	1102	Brother	23 April 1864	Rev C Bowen
561	11 April 1864	John Maginners Rose Ann Gracey	John Macginnus Rose Ann Gracey 💍 1864/7470	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	30 29	Christchurch Do	9 mos 1 week	Wesleyan Chapel	929		11 April 1864	Rev J Buller
562	17 April 1864	David Mclenaham Martha Bambell	David McClenahan Martha Campbell 💍 1864/3756	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 22	Fendall Town Do	3 yrs 3 days	Scotch Church	1000		17 April 1864	Rev C Fraser
563	19 April 1864	William Laurence Edwards Mary Anna Caroline Pratt	William Lawrence Edwards Mary Ann Caroline Pratt 💍 1864/7568	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	24 19	Christchurch Do	5 yrs 6 yrs	St Michaels Ch	869	Henry Pratt, Father	19 April 1864	Rev H Jacobs

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).