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 269

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
518	1 March 1864	Patrick Malley Catherine Dunn	Patrick Malley Catherine Dunn 💍 1864/7711	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 23	Ch Ch Do	16 mos 1 year	Roman Catholic Chapel Ch Ch	918		1 March 1864	Red Chataugnen
519	1 March 1864	James Goodwin Jane Craig	James Goodwin Jane Craig 💍 1864/7556	Bachelor Spinster	farmer Servant	32 29	Ch Ch Do	4 days Do	St. Michaels Church	864		1 March 1864	Red. H. Jacobs
520	5 March 1864	James Edward Mills Clara Charlton	James Edward Mills Clara Charlton 💍 1864/7452	Widower Spinster	Tailor Dressmaker	23 19	Ch Ch Do	4 years Do	Wesleyan Chapel	948		5 March 1864	Red. J. Buller
521	5 March 1864	John Batten Sarah Martin	John Batten Sarah Martin 💍 1864/7239 John Glover Martha Martin 💍 1864/7311	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	34 40	Town Belt Ch Ch	6 years 3 days	Mr. V. Lucking's house	987		5 March 1864	Red. C. Fraser
522	5 March 1864	William Tucker Martha Hannah Crawley	William Tucker Martha Hannah Crawley 💍 1864/7455	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	26 24	Ch Ch Do	5 days 10 weeks	Mr. Davies house	949		5 March 1864	Rev. J. Buller
523	7 March 1864	Philip Francis Price Susannah Cutter	Philip Francis Price Susannah Cutler 💍 1864/7461	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright Milliner	29 17	Ch Ch Mt. Albann	5 years 9 mos	Wesleyan Chapel	951	John Cutter father Ch Ch	7 March 1864	Rev. J. Buller
524	9 March 1864	James Price Harriet Jeffery	James Trice Harriett Jeffery 💍 1864/7458	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Servant	36 26	Ch Ch Do	4 years 1 year	Rev. J. Buller's house	950		9 March 1864	Rev. J. Buller
525	10 March 1864	William Kentish McLean Anna Ware	William Kentish McLean Anna Ware 💍 1864/7559	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	29 18	Ch Ch Do	5 years 4 years	St. Michaels Church	866	Robert Ware father Ch Ch	March 26 1864	Rev. H. Jacobs
526	10 March 1864	Stephen Cook Helen Jane Wilson	Stephen Cropp Helen Jane Wilson 💍 1864/7242	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Servant	27 19	Ch Ch Windmill Rd	6 mos 5 years	Mr. Carstons House	988		10 March 1864	Rev. C Fraser

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).