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 285

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
633	19 July 1864	James Birchale Hannah Gooder Walker	James Burchall Adams Hannah Gordon Walker 💍 1864/7496	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner Servant	22 20	Christchurch Do	3 days 1 Month	Wesleyan Chapel	963		19 July 1864	Rev. J. Buller
634	19 July 1864	William John Williams Susan Churchill	William John Williams Susan Churchill 💍 1864/7335	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 24	Ricearton Christchurch	2 2 weeks	Mr Williams's house	1023		19 July 1864	Rev. C Fraser
635	20 July 1864	John George Murray Mary Gebbie	John George Murray Mary Gebbie 💍 1864/7341	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 22	Lincoln District Head of the Bay, [Lyttelton District]	13 19	Mr Gebbies house, Port Victoria	1026		20 July 1864	Rev. C Fraser
636	20 July 1864	Alexander Davidson Mary Ann Harris	Alexander Davidson Mary Ann Harris 💍 1864/7076	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	28 24	Christchurch Do	1 year 2 years	Rev. G. Grant's house	1061		20 July 1864	Rev. G. Grant
637	21 July 1864	Thomas Smith Sarah Bailey	Thomas Smith Sarah Barley 💍 1864/7338	Bachelor Widow	Printer	27 20	Christchurch Do	6 years 6 years	Mr Smiths house	1024		21 July 1864	Rev. C Fraser
638	22 July 1864	Charles Miller Amelia Paunce	Charles Miller Amelia Emma Ashton 💍 1864/3602	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 18	Christchurch Do	1 week 5 years	Mr Kings house	1025	John Ashton, Father	22 July 1864	Rev. C Fraser
639	23 July 1864	George Hall Emily Newman	George Hall Woodfield Emily Newman 💍 1864/7622	Bachelor Spinster	Smith Servant	24 23	Christchurch Do	1 month 1 month	St Michaels Church	887		23 July 1864	Rev. H. Jacobs
640	26 July 1864	Edward Marrissey Dora Carin	Edward Morrissey Dora Cain 💍 1864/4900	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	38 28	Lincoln District Christchurch	2 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	1398		26 July 1864	Rev. Chataigner
641	26 July 1864	John Austen Mary Austen	John Austin Mary Buxton 💍 1864/7502	Widower Spinster	brick maker Servant	29 28	Ferry Road Christchurch	2 2 years	Wesleyan Chapel	965		Aug 9 1864	Rev. J. Buller

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).