Intentions to Marry, 1868

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840380, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 349

District of Quarter ending

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
29	4 April 1868	William Levi Strafford Emily Sophia Brewerton	William Levi Stratford Emily Sophia Brewerton 💍 1868/7967	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 18	Wainea East Motupiko Valley	8 years 5 years	At the Wesleyan Chapel Spring Grove	1158	John Brewerton, Father	4 April 1868	Rev. John Crump
30	7 April 1868	John David Gilchrist Laing Fanny Moore	John David Gilchrist Laing Fanny Moon 💍 1868/7904	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	25 21	Nelson City Nelson City	18 months 5 years	At the residence of Charles Moore, Farmer Spring Grove	1185		7 April 1868	Rev. Patrick Calder
31	14 April 1868	John Roby Sarah Elizabeth Higgins	John Roby Sarah Elizabeth Higgins 💍 1868/8168	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 25	Nelson City Waimea South	20 years 25 years	At the residence of William Higgins, Spring Grove Waimea South	1228		22 May 1868	Rev. Edward Thomas
32	14 April 1868	George White Mary Maule	George White Mary Maule 💍 1868/4468	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	33 18	Spring Grove Spring Grove	3 days 18 years	At the residence of James Maule, Farmer Spring Grove	1137	James Maule, Father	14 April 1868	Rev. Patrick Calder
33	15 April 1868	Alfred Sowman Jane Dina Matthews	Alfred Lowman Jane Eliza Matthews 💍 1868/8162	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet maker	20 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	12 years 6 years	At the residence of George Matthews, Weka St Nelson	1226	William Sowman, Father George Matthews, Father	15 April 1868	Rev. Edward Thomas
34	15 April 1868	Edward Cowles Sarah Packer	Edward Cowles Sarah Packer 💍 1868/8024	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	9 years 3 years	At the residence of Taben Ambrose Packer, Turner Hardy St. Nelson	1177		15 April 1868	Rev. John Davis
35	15 April 1868	Mark Lodge Margaret Redding	Mark Lodge Margaret Redding 💍 1868/8198	Bachelor Spinster	Farm labourer	20 19	Richmond Richmond	12 years 3 years	At the residence of John Lodge, Farmer Richmond	1241	John Lodge, Father Declaration under clause VII	15 April 1868	Rev. Robt. Leslie Vickers
36	17 April 1868	Owen Haycock Rose Hammond	Owen Haycock Rose Hammond 💍 1868/4413	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	22 23	Richmond Richmond	3 days 15 years	At the residence of Henry Hammond, Labourer Richmond	1240		17 April 1868	Rev. Robt. Leslie Vickers
37	18 April 1868	Patrick Martin Catherine Arnold	Patrick Martin Catherine Arnold 💍 1868/4892	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 21	Spring Grove City of Nelson	7 years 3 years	At the Catholic Church			18 April 1868	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
38	22 April 1868	John Frederick Gillett Hannah Milner	John Frederick Gillett Hannah Milner 💍 1868/8096	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	35 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 5 years	At Christ church Nelson	1203		22 April 1868	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone
39	22 April 1868	John Chandler Fanny Biggs		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 22	Nangapeka Motueka Valley	2 years 4 years	At the residence of George Biggs, Farmer Motueka Valley			22 April 1868	Rev. Francis Tripp
40	22 April 1868	Jeremiah Drummey Agnes Bertie Allan	Jeremiah Drummey Agnes Beatie Allan 💍 1868/8045	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	34 28	Nelson City Nelson City	2 weeks 7 months	At the Catholic Church Nelson	1185		22 April 1868	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
41	25 April 1868	William Henry McCabe Katherine Curry	William Henry McCabe Catherine Curry 💍 1868/8048	Bachelor Spinster	Writing clerk	23 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 years 1 year	At the Catholic Church Nelson	1186		25 April 1868	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin

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).