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 372

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
1081	16 April 1866	Thomas Kennedy Ellen Tobin	Thomas Kennedy Ellen Tobin 💍 1866/4261	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 20	Halswell Christchurch	7 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Chapel Christchurch	1047	John Tobin, father	16 April 1866	Rev. Chataigner
1082	16 April 1866	Samuel Shephard Woall Harriet Sanders	Samuel Sheppard Noall Harriett Sanders 💍 1866/7858	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	32 29	Christchurch Do	2 year 2 years	St Michaels	1199		16 April 1866	Venb. H. Jacobs
1083	16 April 1866	David Pattrick Sarah Parage	David Pattrick Sarah Savage 💍 1866/7741	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Cook	24 23	Christchurch Do	3 days 2 years	Mr. Brepwell's House	1059		1 May 1866	Rev. - Lee
1084	16 April 1866	William McKenzie Mary McMillan		Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	27 23	Christchurch Heathcote	2 years 2 years	Lincoln 123 Mr. McMillan's House	1100		16 April 1866	Rev. C. Fraser
1085	17 April 1866	Henry Woodham Mary Smith	Henry Woodham Mary Smith 💍 1866/7864	Widower Widow	Baker Housekeeper	45 35	Christchurch Do	2 years 5 years	St. Michaels	1202		4 May 1866	Venb. H. Jacobs
1086	17 April 1866	Gordon Howe Elizabeth Woodham	Gordon Howe Elizabeth Woodham 💍 1866/7867	Bachelor Spinster	Mate of Steamer Novelty	24 21	Do Christchurch	1 year 1 year	St. Michaels Christchurch	1203		5 May 1866	Venb. H. Jacobs
1087	23 April 1866	Henry Boyle Jane Struthers	Henry Boyle Jane Struthers 💍 1866/7576	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Farm Servant	28 26	Lelwyn Christchurch	2 years 6 mos	Presbyterian Church	1101		23 April 1866	Rev. C. Fraser
1088	23 April 1866	William Johnston Lovely Jane Bugdd	William Johnston Lufty Jane Rudd Rockey 💍 1866/7582	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Cook	21 21	Christchurch Chch	8 years 3 years	Presbyterian Church	1103		23 April 1866	Rev. C. Fraser
1089	23 April 1866	John Donkaughly Wockey Mary Ann Rofe	John Donoughey Mary Ann Ross 💍 1866/7420	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 25	Christchurch	1 month 18 mos	Roman Catholic Chapel Chch	1249		23 April 1866	Rev. Chataigner

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).