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 371

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
1072	4 April 1866	Thomas Archer Clara Beatrice How	Thomas Archer Clara Beatrice Howlett 💍 1866/7846	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 35	Christchurch Do	1 week 1 week	St Michaels Church	1195		4 April 1866	Venb H Jacobs
1073	6 April 1866	Walter Bely Elizabeth Anstead	Walter Berry Elizabeth Anstead 💍 1866/7561	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 23	Lincoln St Albans	4 years 6 mos	Rev Mr Frasers House	1096		6 April 1866	Rev Mr Fraser
1074	9 April 1866	Frederick William Matthews Mary Ann Lowe	Frederick William Matthews Mary Ann Lowe 💍 1866/7558	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	25 22	Weeden Do	5 mos 5 years	Rev Mr Frasers House	1095		9 April 1866	Rev Mr Frasers
1075	10 April 1866	John Munro Georgina Telford	John Munro Georgina Telford 💍 1866/7567	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	31 29	Addington Do	1 week 10 days	Mr Sutherlands House	1098		10 April 1866	Rev Mr Fraser
1076	11 April 1866	Charles Fleetwood Pohina Anne Heim	Charles Fleetwood Sophie Anna Heim 💍 1866/7852	Bachelor Spinster	Shopman	23 20	Christchurch Ferry Road	2 1/2 years 2 mos	St Michaels	1197	None	11 April 1866	Venb H Jacobs
1077	12 April 1866	Frank Rochford O'Brien Ellen Young	Frank Rochford O'Brien Ellen Young 💍 1866/7564	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	28 19	Christchurch Do	3 days 1 month	Mr O'Briens House	1097	None	12 April 1866	Rev J Buller
1078	13 April 1866	Michael Banoll Sarah Ann Walley	Michael John Carroll Sarah Ann Walley 💍 1866/7414	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	22 20	Lyttleton Christchurch	11 years 6 days	Roman Catholic Chapel Lyttleton	1096	None	13 April 1866	Rev Chataigner
1079	14 April 1866	George Hepworth Elizabeth Forster	George Hepworth Elizabeth Forster 💍 1866/7300	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	33 22	Templeton Riccarton	6 years 14 years	Riccarton	1097		14 April 1866	Rev Mr Bowen
1080	14 April 1866	William Leslie Annie Watters	William Leslie Annie Walters 💍 1866/7288	Bachelor Spinster	Publican	21 23	Leeston Do	9 mos 9 mos	Selwyn Church	1092		14 April 1866	Rev W J Bluett

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).