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 334

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
96	23 August 1866	George Lonston Johanna Leon	George Jonston Johanna Quinlan 💍 1866/8572	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Barmaid	32 25	Jones Creek Rees Do	13 months 9	Roman Catholic Church	1450	23 August 1866	Rev John McGinn
97	23	William Jackson Emma Gougto	William Jackson Emma Gough 💍 1866/8515	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	30 25	Kanieri Revell Street Hokitika	10 5	The Residence of the Rev R.B. Drake	1436	23	Rev R.B. Drake
98	23	Edward Lewis Mary Ann Mickler	Edward Lewis Mary Ann Micklewaine 💍 1866/8374	Bachelor Spinster	Miner General Servant	28 24	O'Donaghues Flat Hokitika Do	13 months 5 Weeks	Registrar's Office Hokitika	1378	23	[UNCLEAR]
99	28	Benjamin Henry Relam Maria Cly		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 28	Kanieri Do	18 months 5 months	Residence of Edwd Sale Hokitika		28	Rev George Grant Edwd Sale
100	30	Joseph Wareham Bridget Brennan	Joseph Wareham Bridget Brennan 💍 1866/4270	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant Maid	26 24	Beach Street Hokitika Do	18 months 6	Roman Catholic Church	1457	30	Rev John McGinn [UNCLEAR]
101	3 September	Malcolm Duncan Mary Reges	Malcolm Duncan Mary Dergan 💍 1866/8575	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	37 22	Revell Street Hokitika Wharf Street Hokitika	6 Weeks	Roman Catholic Church	1452	3 Sept	Rev John McGinn
102	5	Peter Green Honora Glover	Peter Green Honora Veronica Glover 💍 1866/4162	Bachelor Spinster	Publican Servant	23 22	Royal Mail Hotel Hokitika Robert Burns Hotel Revell Street Hokitika	18 Months	Roman Catholic Church	1454	5 Sept	Rev John McGinn
103	5	David Grinton Mary Frasington	David Grinton Mary Farington 💍 1866/8443	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Barmaid	21 23	Revell Street Hokitika Do	9 Months 2 Weeks	Cleveland Hotel, Revell Street Hokitika	1463	5	Rev John Salto
104	6	Francis Robert George Jubia Leon	Francis Robert George Julia Quinn 💍 1866/8578	Bachelor Widow	Miner	26 30	Ross Town Do	14 Months 6 Weeks	Private Residence Rev B. Ferguson	1463	6	Rev John McGinn
105	6	John Murney Jane Connon	John Murray Jane Connor 💍 1866/8581	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Laundress	37 38	Camp Street Hokitika Do	6 Months	Roman Catholic Church Hokitika	1455	6	Rev John McGinn
106	7	Patrick Bori Bridget Winkle	Patrick Brody Bridget Winkle 💍 1866/8395	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Servant	30 21	Greymonth Do	11 Months	The House of Bridget Winkle	1387	7	Rev Emmanuel Royes
107	10	Charles Peter Johnson Charlotte Ridgeley	Charles Peter Johnson Charlotte Ridgley 💍 1866/8278	Bachelor Widow	Miner Needlewoman	33 30	Ross Do	10 Months	Own Residence	1346	10	Rev John McGinn
108	11	William Marshall Cooper Emma Winter	William Marshall Cooper Emma Winter 💍 1866/8458	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	33 19	Gibbons Survey Hokitika Sale Street Hokitika	10 Months 8	Government House Hokitika	1410	11	Rev. Ino Chas Bagshawe

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).