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 349

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Oct - Dec

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
986	8 December 1865	John Baker Elizabeth Long	John Baker Elizabeth Long 💍 1865/7142	Bachelor Spinster	barter Servant	25 20	7 my Road Do	5 yrs 1 1/2 yrs	Heathcote Valley Church	1034	John Baker, Father	8 December 1865	Rev G Cholmondely
987	9 December 1865	Charles Stuart Bell Eve Straker	Charles Stewart Bell Eve Straker 💍 1865/9610	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	28 21	Christehurch Do	3 yrs 6 mos	Pahnani Church	1207		9 December 1865	Rev L Moore
988	11 December 1865	Benjamin Evans Elizabeth Emma	Benjamin Evans Elizabeth Emma Allott 💍 1865/7699	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 20	Papanui Do	3 wks 3 wks	Wm Hendersons House	1229	William Mott, father	11 December 1865	Rev L Moore
989	12 December 1865	William Watson Margaret Tait	William Watson Margaret Tait 💍 1865/7811	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	26 22	Lincoln Christchurch	8 mos 6 days	Christchurch	1269		12 December 1865	Rev - Grant
990	13 December 1865	William Rondell Smith Mary White	William Randell Smith Mary White 💍 1865/7301	Bachelor Spinster	Publican Servant	26 22	Christehurch Do	11 mos 18 mos	St Lukes	1089		13 December 1865	Rev J Barffenter
991	14 December 1865	Edward Woodford Emma Knight	Edward Woodford Emma Knights 💍 1865/7549	Bachelor Spinster	Stockowner	26 23	Christchurch Do	5 weeks 5 weeks	Rev G Frasers House	1196		14 December 1865	Rev G Fraser H Jacobs
992	18 December 1865	Benjamin Hall Eliza Triggs	Benjamin Hale Eliza Triggs 💍 1865/7555	Bachelor Spinster	Sailmaker Dressmaker	24 20	Christchurch Do	3 days 2 wks	St Michaels	1178	None	18 December 1865	Rev H Jacobs
993	19 December 1865	Benjamin Hall Eliza Triggs	Benjamin Hale Eliza Triggs 💍 1865/7555	Bachelor Spinster	Sailmaker Dressmaker	24 20	Christchurch Do	4 days 2 wks	Mr Tunnas' House	1178	None	Dec 19 1865	Rev G Fraser
994	19 December 1865	Samuel McCormack Elizabeth Kingland	Samuel McCormick Elizabeth Ringland 💍 1866/7504	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	27 20	Selwyn Do	3 mos 5 mos	Rev G Frasers' House	1077	None	Jany 29 1866	Rev G Fraser

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).