Intentions to Marry, 1867

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840379, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 429

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
1348	April 1 1864	John Wilson Christina McKinnon	John Wilson Christina Mackinnon 💍 1867/7459	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	10 Days 2 weeks	In the house of the Rev. C. Fraser	1059		April 12 1864	Rev. C. Fraser
1349	April 2 1864	James Butter Isabella Meadow	James Butler Isabella Weadson 💍 1867/7456	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	24 22	Halsewell Halsewell	2 mths. 2 Mths	In the house of the Rev. C. Fraser	1058		April 12 1864	Rev. C. Fraser
1350	April 5 1864	Thomas Wilson Elizabeth Powell	Thomas Wilson Elizabeth Foulds 💍 1867/7807	Bachelor Spinster	Porteous Railway	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 weeks	In the Church of St Michael	1998		April 3 1864	The Very Rev. the Dean
1351	April 5 1864	William Harrison Mary Ann Allen	William Harrison Mary Ann Allen 💍 1867/7135	Bachelor Spinster	Wire drawer Servant	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	6 mths 3 years	In the house of the Rev. J.G. Buddle	9179		April 13 1864	The Rev. J. Buddle
1352	April 5 1864	Thomas Foley Elizabeth Shirley	Thomas Jabez Fehr Elizabeth Shirley 💍 1867/7696	Widower Spinster	Upholsterer	26 20	Christchurch Christchurch	12 mths 12 mths	In the church of St John	1639	Edward Shirley, Father	April 9 1864	Rev. C. Bowen Brown
1353	April 5 1864	Thomas Hanna Sarah Wildon	Thomas Reeves Sarah Ann Wilson 💍 1867/6679	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Cust Water Creek 7 mile peg	3 years 8 years	In the Scotch Church			April 9 1864	The Rev. C. Fraser
1354	April 9 1864	Charles Llewellyn Davis Minnie Blundell	Charles Llewellyn Davies Minnie Blundell 💍 1867/7810	Bachelor Spinster	Police	24 18	Rangiora Christchurch	18 mth 9 mths	In the church of St Michael	9193	William Blundell, Father	April 9 1864	The Very Rev. the Dean
1355	April 9 1864	Richard Meredith Elizabeth Louisa Willis	Richard Meredith Elizabeth Louisa Willis 💍 1867/7138	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	24 20	Woodend Christchurch	3 years 14 years	In the Wesleyan Church	950	Elizabeth Willis, Mother	April 9 1864	The Rev. J. Buddle
1356	April 10 1864	William Brown Anna M. Williams	William Brown Annie McWilliams 💍 1867/7813	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic Servant	23 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 4 Days	In the church	1180		April 10 1864	The Very Rev. the Dean

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).