Intentions to Marry, 1866

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840378, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 331

District of River Grey 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
60	4 April 1866	Michael Duffy Lilly Sutherland	Michael Duffy Lilly Sutherland 💍 1866/4231	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	25 24	Taracea St Hokitika	12 months	Roman Catholic Chapel	1439		4 April 1866	Rev John McFarlane
61	4 April 1866	Francis Nally Margaret Hayes	Francis McNally Margaret Hayes 💍 1866/8323	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	25 22	Okarita Taracea St Hokitika	6 weeks 8 months	Residence of the Rev G.S. Harper	1361		4 April 1866	Rev G.S. Harper
62	4 April 1866	Peter Laurton Elizabeth Slatter	Peter Lawton Elizabeth Slatter 💍 1866/8326	Bachelor Widow	Miner Housemaid	36 28	Jones Creek Totara Shotover Hotel Hokitika	7 3 years	Wesleyan Church Hokitika	1362		4 April 1866	Rev G.S. Harper
63	9 April 1866	John Discacati Anne O'Donnell	John Discaciati Anne O'Donnell 💍 1866/8392	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Laundress	28 26	Greymouth Greymouth	6 3 months	Catholic Chapel Greymouth	1386		9 April 1866	Rev C.E. Royer
64	14 April 1866	Walter Williams Ellen Dougherty	Walter Williams Ellen Dougherty 💍 1866/8542	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	29 22	Hau Hau Creek Shotover Hotel Revell St Hokitika	9 4	Roman Catholic Chapel	1440		14 April 1866	Rev John McFarlane
65	19 April 1866	Peter McGrath Matilda McCoy	Peter McGrath Matilda McCoy 💍 1866/8350	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	27 30	Kanieri	9	Registrar's Office	1370		19 April 1866	Edward Patten
66	19 April 1866	Alfred Bashford Jane Richards	Alfred Bushford Jane Richardson 💍 1866/8437	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	24 21	Kanieri	7 2	Mr Spotis' house Hokitika	1401		19 April 1866	Rev Chas Fraser
67	21 April 1866	Augustus Estcourt Hunt Sarah Annie Willing Philips	Augustus Eatwell Tennant Sarah Annie Willing Philips 💍 1866/8353	Bachelor Spinster	Warden clerk Barmaid	24 18	Camp Hokitika Hokitika	13 8	Registrar's Office	1357	Sarah Philips, Mother	21 April 1866	Edward Patten
68	23 April 1866	Henry Silow Shabe Guest	Henry Gibson Phoebe Guest 💍 1866/8440	Bachelor Spinster	Mason	31 17	Kanieri	11 5	Mr Spotis' house Kanieri	1402	John Guest, Father	[UNCLEAR]	Rev Chas Fraser
69	24 April 1866	Edward Hope Mary Anne Faris	Edmund Ings Mary Ann Faris 💍 1866/8269	Bachelor Spinster	Reporter	30 22	Hamilton St Hokitika Kanieri Township	6 2	Wesleyan Church	1343		24 April 1866	Rev William Cannell
70	28 April 1866	Morris Humphreys Bateman Jenia Maria Kathleen Dwyer		Bachelor Spinster	Soda Water manufacturer	24 22	Greymouth	7 2	Mr Spotis' house Hokitika	1441		28 April 1866	Rev Chas Fraser
71	10 May 1866	Jeremiah Cawley Catherine Callaghan	Jeramiah Crowley Annie Callaghan 💍 1866/8404	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	31 21	Hau Hau Creek Revell St Hokitika	3 weeks 3 days	Roman Catholic Church Hokitika	1390		10 May 1866	Rev John McFarlane
72	15 May 1866	Samuel William Cook Elizabeth Sheldon	Samuel William Cook Elizabeth Ann Sheldon 💍 1866/8356	Bachelor Spinster	Stock Agent	23 19	Revell St Hokitika	3 months 2	Registrar's Office	1372	Mary Carter, Mother	15 May 1866	Edward Patten

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).