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 470

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
1701	1 June 1868	Alexander Allen Eliza Flynn	Alexander Allen Eliza Flynn 💍 1868/6215	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 22	Leeston Do	2 years 1 year	In the Scotch Church	544		16 June 1868	Rev. C Fraser
1702	1 June 1868	William Edward Norris Elizabeth Boughey Norris	William Edward Norriss Elizabeth Boughtflower 💍 1868/6308	Widower Spinster	Schoolmaster	35 35	Ferry road Ferry road	5 years 2 weeks	In the House of Wm. E. Norris	577		23 June 1868	Rev. J. Habern
1703	2 June 1868	Charles Fitzpatrick Ann Donnelly	Charles Fitzpatrick Ann Donnelly 💍 1868/5987	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	21 19	Christchurch St. Albans	1 week 3 mths	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Ashley	466	There is no person having authority to give consent	2 June 1868	Rev. Father Chat
1704	2 June 1868	Edward Thomas Barnes Mary Louisa Sheet	Edward Thomas Connell Mary Louisa Stret 💍 1868/6197	Bachelor Widow	Shipwright	34 26	Christchurch Do	4 days 14 Dys	In the house of Rev. C Fraser	538		2 June 1868	Rev. C Fraser
1705	2 June 1868	William Linton Ann Everest	William Lintott Anne Everest 💍 1868/6251	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 19	Springston Do	3 years 3 years	In the House of Rev. C Fraser	537	Daniel Everest, Father	2 June 1868	Rev. C. Fraser
1706	4 June 1868	William Freeman Sarah Anne Tuck	William Freeman Sarah Ann Fluck 💍 1868/6203	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	24 20	West Melton Do	3 years 1 week	In the House of Rev. C Fraser	540	There is no person in the Colony having power to give Consent	4 June 1868	Rev. C Fraser
1707	5 June 1868	Edward Norris Amelia Heighton	Edward Hiorns Amelia Heighton 💍 1868/6500	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	29 20	Christchurch Do	5 years 1 year	In the Papanui Church	644	There is no person in the Colony having power to give Consent	June 1868
1708	4 June 1868	John Loftus Campbell Mary Donnelly	John Loftus Campbell Mary Ann Donnelly 💍 1868/5993	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	29 21	Christchurch Do	2 years 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	466		4 June 1868	Rev. Father Chat
1709	4 June 1868	James South Mary Martin	James South Mary Martin 💍 1868/6206	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle dealer	37 19	Christchurch Ferry road	2 years 9 years	In the House of Mrs Nickle	541	Richard Martin, Father	6 June 1868	Rev. C Fraser

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).