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 441

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Jul - Sep

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1427	July 1	Henry Pryke Mary Ryan	Henry Pryke Mary Rynn 💍 1867/7513	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	30 30	Christchurch Christchurch	6 mths 3 years	In the Scotch Church	1099	July 1	Rev C Fraser
1428	July 1	Henry Layton Bowtree Margaret Agnes Dudley	Henry Layton Bowker Margaret Agnes Dudley 💍 1867/7651	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	25 24	Christchurch Fendall Town	5 years 3 years	In the House of M. Bowker	1124	July 25	Rev J Grant
1429	July 2	William Brown Ellen Jane Cave	William Brown Ellen Jane Kane 💍 1867/7711	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	24 25	Selwyn Selwyn	3 years 3 years	In the Church of St John	1144	July 2	Rev O Brien Moore
1430	July 3	William Roberts Maria Field	William Roberts Maria Field 💍 1867/4203	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	23 18	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	In the Church of St Michael	1192	July 3	The Very Rev the Dean
1431	July 4	Moses Corduse Elizabeth Whitten	Moses Cordner Elizabeth Whitten 💍 1867/7858	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	21 21	Lincoln Road Christchurch	6 years 1 year	In the Church of St Michael	1194	July 4	The Very Rev the Dean
1432	July 8	Paul Lopez Mary Anne Greenwood	Paul Lopez Mary Ann Greenwood 💍 1867/7342	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	29 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 6 mths	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	1018	July 8	Rev Father Chataignier
1433	July 9	William Wylie Eliza Jane Corby	William Wylie Eliza Jane Early 💍 1867/7186	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 28	Christchurch Lincoln	4 years 3 years	In the Church	960	July 9	Rev J Campbell
1434	July 10	David Round Anne Maria Monk	David Round Anne Maria Monk 💍 1867/7189	Widower Widow	Blacksmith	46 42	Christchurch Prebbleton	1 mth 4 years	In the House of W Prebble	769	July 10	Rev J Campbell
1435	July 10	George Valentine Elizabeth Prince	George Valentine Elizabeth Prince 💍 1867/7849	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	27 30	Rolleston St Albans	2 years 6 years	In the Church of St Michael	1193	July 10	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).