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 334

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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
858	5 May 1865	John Henry Blake Emma Jane Matson	John Henry Blake Midland Emma Jane Matson 💍 1865/7687	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	20 18	Hoon Hay Papanui	10 yrs 2 yrs	Papanui Church	1225	H. Matson, father	May 5 1865	Rev. L. Moore
859	8 May 1865	William Rolleston Elizabeth Mary Britton	William Rolleston Elizabeth Mary Brittan 💍 1865/7651	Bachelor Spinster	Provincial Secretary	33 20	Christchurch Avonside	1 1/2 yr 13 yrs	Avonside Church	1213	Joseph Britton, father	May 23 1865	Venb. H. Jacobs
860	9 May 1865	George Laws Caroline Wagstaff	George Frederick Pritchard Caroline Wagstaff 💍 1865/7208	Bachelor Spinster	Coachbuilder	28 17	Papanui Rd Do	1 yr 7 yrs	St. Michaels Church	1057	Mary Ann Wagstaff, mother	May 24 1865	Venb. H. Jacobs.
861	10 May 1865	Thomas Harle Jane Fenwick	Thomas Harle Jane Fenwick 💍 1865/7205	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	27 25	Heathcote Valley Do	3 yrs 3 wks	St. Michaels Church	1055		May 30 1865	Venb H. Jacobs
862	11 May 1865	William Taylor Annie Dowd	William Taylor Annie Dowd 💍 1865/6530	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	27 22	Christchurch Do	3 days 4 days	Roman Catholic Chapel	1180		May 11 1865	Rev. Chataigner
863	12 May 1865	John Edward Hanson Mary Hare	John Edward Hanson Mary Hare 💍 1865/7097	Bachelor Spinster	Servant Do	23 27	Christchurch Do	1 yr 1 yr	Mrs. Fisher's house	1019		May 12 1865	Rev. Habens
864	13 May 1865	Thomas Macartney Annie Sutherland	Thomas Macartney Anna Sutherland 💍 1865/7441	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	24 23	Lincoln District Christchurch	3 yrs 1/2 yr	St. Andrews Church	1137		May 13 1865	Rev. C. Fraser
865	13 May 1865	Edwin Viper Mary Le Breton	Edwin Piper Mary Le Breton 💍 1865/7453	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker Servant	25 21	Heathcote Do	9 yrs 6 mos	St. Andrews Church	1141		May 30 1865	Rev. C. Fraser
866	13 May 1865	Samuel Hult Mary Brown Macartney	Samuel Nutt Mary Brown Macartney 💍 1865/7447	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 23	Selwyn District Do	7 mos 1 yr	St. Andrews Church	1139		May 13 1865	Rev. C. Fraser
867	13 May 1865	John Scott Elizabeth Simon	John Scott Elizabeth Simon 💍 1865/7654	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor Servant	24 23	Christchurch Do	2 yrs 1 yr	Avonside Church	1211		May 29 1865	Rev. Bagshaw

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).