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 333

District of River Grey Quarter ending Jul

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
83	3 July 1866	James Hogan Catherine Scallan	James Hogan Catherine Scollard 💍 1866/8557 James Hogan Jane Jordan 💍 1866/4927	Bachelor Spinster	Publican	30 23	Munster Hotel Hokitika Dan O'Connell Hotel Hokitika	18 months 5 months	Roman Catholic Church	1443		3 July 1866	Rev. John McGinn
84	4 July 1866	William Norcome Alice Williams	William Norcome Alice Williams 💍 1866/8272 William Harrison Mary Williams 💍 1866/8086	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Barmaid	24 24	Sambing Flat Hokitika Hokitika	9 14 days	Wesleyan Church Hokitika	1344		4 July 1866	Rev. W. Cannell
85	9 July 1866	Henry Lee Robinson Catherine Thompson	Henry Lee Robinson Katherine Thompson 💍 1866/8563 Robert Bennett Brickell Catherine Thompson 💍 1866/4942	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 21	Kanieri	14 months	Barretts Hotel	1447		9 July 1866	Rev. John McGinn
86	13 July 1866	George Lewis Maria Lee	George Lewis Maria Lee 💍 1866/8365	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	30 18	Greymouth Revell Street Hokitika	9 months 2 days	Office Hokitika	1375	Sarah Lee	13 July 1866	Edward Patten
87	14 July 1866	Frederick Dale Mary Couric	Frederick Dale Mary Conrick 💍 1866/8566	Widower Widow	Storekeeper	38 24	Kanieri Royal Mall Hotel Revell Street Hokitika	12 Months 2	Roman Catholic Church Hokitika	1448		14 July 1866	Rev John McGinn
88	20 July 1866	Lewis Michel Catherine Campion	Lewis Michel Catharine Campion 💍 1866/8275	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Housemaid	27 21	Revell Street North Hokitika	9 months 3	Wesleyan Chapel	1345		20 July 1866	Rev Wm. Cannell
89	23 July 1866	Patrick Bannon Johanna Bon sickle	Patrick Cannon Johanna Conrick 💍 1866/8569	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Housemaid	28 22	Ross Town	11 m 7	Roman Catholic Church	1449		23 July 1866	Rev. John McGinn
90	30 July 1866	William M. Donald Mary Ann Ruff	William McDonald Mary Ann Roff 💍 1866/8407 William Mooney Mary Ann McNaught 💍 1867/6418 William Donovan Mary Ann Horne 💍 1866/10020 William Davey Mary Ann Kerr 💍 1866/9445 William McInnes Mary Anne Hutton 💍 1866/9631	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	25 19	Star Hotel Greymouth Greymouth	4 Months 4 Weeks	The Residence of Thomas Ruff Greymouth	1391	Thomas Ruff	30 July 1866	Rev. Joseph White
91	31 July 1866	James Caleb Helly Eliza Edd	James Cato Kittelly Eliza Odd 💍 1866/8410	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	23 16	Gresson Street Greymouth South Beach Greymouth	12 Months	Own Residence Greymouth	1392	Maria Chesterfield Edd, Mother	31 July 1866	Rev. Joseph White
92	9 August 1866	George Matthews Ellen M. Glynn	George Matthews Ellen McGlynn 💍 1866/8368	Widower Widow	Laborer Laundress	42 36	Sale Street Hokitika Sale Street Hokitika	12	Registrars Office Hokitika	1376		9 August 1866	Edward Patten
93	11 August 1866	John McGregor Mary Couchman	John McGregor Mary Cruchman 💍 1866/8452	Bachelor Spinster	Publican Housekeeper	30 24	Waimea Township	18 Months 10	Commercial House Hokitika	1408		11 August 1866	Right Rev. Arch. Chish. Harper
94	16 August 1866	Hugh Gemmil Ann McDowall	Hugh Gemmill Ann McDonald 💍 1866/7717	Bachelor Spinster	Barman Barmaid	25 21	Revell Street Hokitika Hokitika	7 Months 6	Robert Burns Hotel Hokitika	1150		16 August 1866	Rev. George Grant
95	23 August 1866	Archibald Adams Margaret Rose Geddes	Arthur John Hams Margaret Rose Geddes 💍 1866/8371	Bachelor Spinster	Revenue Officer Domestic	24 33	Hokitika	1 Month 5 weeks	Registrars Office	1377		23 August 1866	Edward Sale

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).