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 399

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 June 1866

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
1	14 April 1866	William John Carroll Sarah Ann Walley	Michael John Carroll Sarah Ann Walley 💍 1866/7414	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 20	Lyttelton Christchurch	11 years 3 days	Roman Catholic Chapel, Christchurch	1046	Declaration not having been made	14 April 1866	Rev. Jean Baptiste Chataigner
2	17 April 1866	James Lewin Martha Ann Walker	James Lewin Martha Ann Walker 💍 1866/8179	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	24 19	Lyttelton Lyttelton	5 years 8 years	Trinity Church, Lyttelton	1311	William Walker, Father	17 April 1866	Rev. Francis Knowles
3	24 April 1866	Henry Allwright Matilda Lyons	Harry Allwright Matilda Lyons 💍 1866/8134	Bachelor Widow	Painter	29 25	Lyttelton Lyttelton	15 years 8 years	Wesleyan Chapel, Lyttelton	1295		24 April 1866	Rev. John Crump
4	26 April 1866	Charles Augustus West Eliza Mary Theresa Evans	Charles Augustus Post Eliza Mary Theresa Cecilia Evans 💍 1866/7423	Bachelor Spinster		27 23	Lyttelton Lyttelton	3 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton	1050		26 April 1866	Rev. Jean Baptiste Chataigner
5	5 May 1866	George Griswood Maria Collins	George Erwood Maria Collins 💍 1866/8137	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	36 29	Lyttelton Lyttelton	8 years 3 years	At the Mitre Hotel	1296		7 May 1866	Rev. John Crump
6	6 May 1866	John Sweet Oliver Georgina Sparkth	John Sweet Olliver Georgina Sarah Milsom 💍 1866/8140	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 3/4 23 3/4	London St, Lyttelton Lyttelton	7 years 5 years	Wesleyan Chapel, Lyttelton	1297		8 May 1866	Rev. John Crump
6A	6 May 1866	James Rivers Ann McMinmin	James Rivers Annie McMinnis 💍 1866/8143	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	31 27	Port Levy Port Levy	1 year 2 months	House of Rev. John Crump, Lyttelton	1298		12 May 1866	Rev. John Crump
7	6 May 1866	William Burnett Sarah Ann Booth	William Burnett Sarah Ann Booth 💍 1866/8182	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	35 22	Lyttelton Lyttelton	1 year 3 years	Trinity Church, Lyttelton	1312		14 May 1866	Rev. Francis Knowles
8	8 May 1866	Oliver Carll Searle Clara Ann Sarah Graham	Oliver Carls Smith Mary Ann Sarah Graham 💍 1866/8146	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 22	Lyttelton Lyttelton	1 year 1 year	House of John William Anderson, Lyttelton	1299		22 May 1866	Rev. John Crump
9	9 May 1866	Arthur Wagstaff Caroline Barther		Bachelor Spinster	Draper	26 29	Christchurch Governors Bay	1 year 3 days	Church of Christ Church, Governors Bay	1277		22 May 1866	Rev. Francis Knowles
10	1 June 1866	George Chapman Eliza Bisset	George Chapman Elsie Bissett 💍 1866/4363	Bachelor Spinster	Minor Servant	28 29	Lyttelton Lyttelton	3 years 2 years	House of W. H. Armitage, London St.	1300		2 June 1866	Rev. John Crump
11	1 June 1866	James Leete Julia Sarah	James Scott Julia Sarah Creasey 💍 1866/8161	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor D. Serv.	27 22	Lyttelton Lyttelton	3 years 1 1/2 years	House of Rev. J. Goer, Public St.	1305		4 June 1866	Rev. John Goer
12	2 June 1866	Charles Chapman Mary Fortune	Charles Chapman Mary Fortune 💍 1866/8164	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	36 29	Lower Ellesmere Lyttelton	7 years 9 years	House of James Chapman, Peacock St, Edward	1306		8 June 1866	Rev. John Goer

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).