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 275

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
546	1 April 1864	George Richards Elezabeth Jones	George Richards Elizabeth Powell 💍 1864/7114	Bachelor Widow	labourer servant	28 24	Kaiapoi Do	3 mos 3 mos	Kaiapoi Church	1076		1 April 1864	Rev. L. Moore
547	2 April 1864	Melson George Jones Jane Thorne	Milson George Jones Jane Thorne 💍 1864/7135	bachelor Spinster	farmer Servant	22 26	Heatheste Valley Do	2 mos 10 weeks	Heathcote Church	1087		2 April 1864	Rev. G. Cholmondelay
548	2 April 1864	William Mcfarlane Flora Carrie	William Macfarlane MacLeod Flora Currie 💍 1864/7272	Bachelor Spinster	blacksmith dairymaid	28 21	Christchurch Do	6 weeks 6 weeks	Mr. Ghostons house	998		15 April 1864	Rev. Craven
549	2 April 1864	Thomas Harris Mary Pettifor	Thomas Harris Mary Pettigrew 💍 1864/7479	bachelor Spinster	miller servant	25 31	Christchurch Do	7 mos 7 mos	Mr. Harris's house	957		19 April 1864	Rev. J. Buller
550	2 April 1864	John Dardis Catherine Duggan	John Dardis Catharine Duggan 💍 1864/7389	bachelor Spinster	labourer Servant	30 19	Christchurch Do	9 years 9 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	926		2 April 1864	Rev. Chataigner
551	4 April 1864	George Barker Maria Chilman	George Barker Maria Chilman 💍 1864/7482	bachelor Spinster	hawker servant	25 27	Christchurch Do	1 year 1 year	Wesleyan Chapel	958		18 April 1864	Rev. J. Buller
552	4 April 1864	David Gibb Mary Blackwell	David Gibb Mary Blackwood 💍 1864/7263	Bachelor Spinster	slater Servant	21 19	Christchurch Do	7 mos 7 mos	Rev. b Frasers house	995		4 April 1864	Rev. b Fraser
553	4 April 1864	Frederick Langston Emma Sears	Frederick Langston Newnham Emma Sears 💍 1864/7143	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Servant	23 20	Christchurch Do	1/3 1/3	Avonside church	1099	William Sears, Father	April 1864	Rev. Bagsham
554	6 April 1864	William Bamforth Ellen Richards	William Bamforth Ellen Richards 💍 1864/7260	Bachelor Spinster	Overseer of Station Servant	24 21	Christchurch Do	3 days 3 weeks	Rev. b Frasers house	994		6 April 1864	Rev. b 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).