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 431

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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

1366

April 20 1867

Robert Ogden
Catherine Holland

Robert Ogden
Catherine Holland
💍 1867/7303

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
20

St Albans
Do

3 weeks
Do

The Roman Catholic Church

1005

Cornelius Menolu, Brother in law

April 20 1867

Rev'd Father Chataigner

No	1366
Date of Notice	April 20 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ogden	Catherine Holland
	💍 1867/7303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Do
Length of Residence	3 weeks	Do
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church
Folio	1005
Consent	Cornelius Menolu, Brother in law
Date of Certificate	April 20 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev'd Father Chataigner

1367

April 21 1867

Thomas Hill
Roda Hubbard

Thomas Hill
Rosa Hubbard
💍 1867/7231

Bachelor
Widow

Veterinary Surgeon

38
25

Christchurch
Do

4 years
2 mths

In the Registrar's Office

981

April 21 1867

Rev. G. Carpenter

No	1367
Date of Notice	April 21 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hill	Roda Hubbard
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Hill	Rosa Hubbard
	💍 1867/7231
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Veterinary Surgeon
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	4 years	2 mths
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office
Folio	981
Consent
Date of Certificate	April 21 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Carpenter

1368

April 23 1867

William Horsman
Harriet Thompson

William Horsman
Harriet Thompson
💍 1867/7945

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

26
20

Christchurch
Do

5 years
4 years

In the house of Thomas Thompson

1225

Thomas Thompson, Father

April 23 1867

Rev. J. Thornton

No	1368
Date of Notice	April 23 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Horsman	Harriet Thompson
	💍 1867/7945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas Thompson
Folio	1225
Consent	Thomas Thompson, Father
Date of Certificate	April 23 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Thornton

1369

April 23 1867

Thomas Westlake
Catherine Cleare

Thomas Westlake
Catherine Clery
💍 1867/7306

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
30

Christchurch
Do

3 years
Do

In the Roman Catholic Church

1006

April 23 1867

Rev'd Father Chataigner

No	1369
Date of Notice	April 23 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Westlake	Catherine Cleare
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Westlake	Catherine Clery
	💍 1867/7306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	Do
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	1006
Consent
Date of Certificate	April 23 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev'd Father Chataigner

1370

April 23 1867

Edward Chard
Jane Robinson

Samuel Chard
Jane Robinson
💍 1867/7693

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Servant

30
28

Christchurch
Do

4 years
4 mths

In the Church of St John

1138

April 23 1867

Rev. C. Bowen Warre

No	1370
Date of Notice	April 23 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Chard	Jane Robinson
BDM Match (75%)	Samuel Chard	Jane Robinson
	💍 1867/7693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Servant
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	4 years	4 mths
Marriage Place	In the Church of St John
Folio	1138
Consent
Date of Certificate	April 23 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Bowen Warre

1371

April 23 1867

George Donaldson
Betsy Robie McLeister

George Donaldson
Betsy Robb Webster
💍 1867/7477

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

27
25

Christchurch
Do

3 years
3 years

In the house of James Logie

1065

April 23 1867

Rev. C. Fraser

No	1371
Date of Notice	April 23 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Donaldson	Betsy Robie McLeister
BDM Match (86%)	George Donaldson	Betsy Robb Webster
	💍 1867/7477
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of James Logie
Folio	1065
Consent
Date of Certificate	April 23 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

1372

April 23 1867

James Malcolm
Annie Leech

James Malcolm
Annie Lynch
💍 1867/7474

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Servant

29
27

Riccarton
Do

3 years
2 years

In the house of the Rev'd C. Fraser

964

April 23 1867

Rev. C. Fraser

No	1372
Date of Notice	April 23 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Malcolm	Annie Leech
BDM Match (91%)	James Malcolm	Annie Lynch
	💍 1867/7474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Servant
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev'd C. Fraser
Folio	964
Consent
Date of Certificate	April 23 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

1373

April 24 1867

John Armitage
Harriet Savage

John Armitage
Harriett Savage
💍 1867/7141

Widower
Widow

Mill Sawyer
Servant

44
32

Christchurch
Do

6 mths
1 year

In the house of the Rev'd J. Buller

957

April 24 1867

Rev. J. Buller

No	1373
Date of Notice	April 24 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Armitage	Harriet Savage
BDM Match (97%)	John Armitage	Harriett Savage
	💍 1867/7141
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Mill Sawyer	Servant
Age	44	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	6 mths	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev'd J. Buller
Folio	957
Consent
Date of Certificate	April 24 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Buller

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).