1865 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840377, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 328

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Jan - Mar

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
810	27 February 1865	Thomas Turner Brownell Sarah Ann Overton	Thomas Turner Brownell Sarah Ann Overton 💍 1865/7316	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	30 20	Christ church Laddie Ellenmere	3 years 3 years	Mr Obertons house	1094	Thomas Overton, father	27 February 1865	Rev. J. Buller
811	28 February 1865	David Drydedale Cunn Janet Wea hall	David Drysdale Currie Janet Wetherall 💍 1865/7202	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 26	Christ church Do	2 weeks Two weeks	St. Michael Church	1054		May 6 1865	Rev H. Jacobs
812	28 February 1865	John Drou Margaret Cameron	John Dron Margaret Cameron 💍 1865/7720	Bachelor Spinster	Farmman Servant	24 24	Caristchurch Do	4 days 4 days	Registrars Office	1236		Feb 28 1865	Registrar
813	2 March 1865	Harry Harrison Emma A Arthin	Harry Harrison Emma Atkin 💍 1865/7645	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Needlewoman	23 23	Christchurch Do	10 years 2 years	Avonside Church	1211		Mar 2 1865	Rev. Bagshaw
814	4 March 1865	George Barrett Susan Doherty	George Barrett Susan Doherty 💍 1865/7573	Bachelor Spinster	Manager of Sheep Station Servant	26 24	Curistchurch Do	4 days 4 days	Roman Catholic Chapel	1184		March 6 1865	Rev. Chataigner
815	6 March 1865	Patrick Madden Catherine Keiley	Patrick Madden Catherine Keyly 💍 1865/7576	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 22	Ferry Road Do	3 days 3 days	Roman Catholic Chapel	1185		Mar 6 1865	Rev. Chataigner
816	9 March 1865	William Resreter Elizabeth Smith	William Rossiter Elizabeth Smith 💍 1865/7319 James Kelly Elizabeth Smith 💍 1865/6263	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	28 30	Christ Church Do	3 years 2 1/2 year	Mr Gebraus house	1095		Mar 9 1865	Rev. J Buller
817	13 March 1865	John Mee Susannah Digby	John Mee Susanna Digby 💍 1865/7624	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 25	Christ church Fendalton	1 1	Riccarton Church	1202		Mar 13 1865	Rev. C. Bowen
818	13 March 1865	Edward Brocker Helen Gilmour	Edward Brocker Helen Gilmour 💍 1865/7322	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer House Servant	21 21	Christ Church Do	5 years 2 years	Mr Gilmours house	1096		Mar 13 1865	Rev. J Buller
819	14 March 1865	Geoffrey William Jane Cox		Bachelor Spinster	House-Carpenter	24 22	Christ-church Do	6 days 4 years	St. Michaels Church	1049		March 14 1865	Rev. H. Jacobs

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).