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 484

District of Quarter ending

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

1800

8 October 1868

Josiah Stevens Kingdon
Catherine Johnston

Josiah Stephens Kingdon
Catherine Johnson
💍 1868/6608

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
20

Riccarton
Do

3 years
10 years

In the Scotch Church, Tuam Street

682

William Johnston, Father

8 October 1868

Rev. C. Fraser

No	1800
Date of Notice	8 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josiah Stevens Kingdon	Catherine Johnston
BDM Match (93%)	Josiah Stephens Kingdon	Catherine Johnson
	💍 1868/6608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Scotch Church, Tuam Street
Folio	682
Consent	William Johnston, Father
Date of Certificate	8 October 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

1801

10 October 1868

Robert Herrow
Mary Jane Nevin

Robert Herron
Mary Jane Nevin
💍 1868/6407

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

27
26

Malvern Hills
Christchurch

3 years
3 years

In the Church of St. Michael

10 October 1868

The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs

No	1801
Date of Notice	10 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Herrow	Mary Jane Nevin
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Herron	Mary Jane Nevin
	💍 1868/6407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Malvern Hills	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of St. Michael
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1868
Officiating Minister	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs

1802

10 October 1868

Henry Schafer
Dora Reddar

No corresponding marriage registration found

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

32
20

Lincoln
Prebbleton

4 years
1 year

In the Church near Prebbleton

583

Christopher Reddar, Father

10 October 1868

Rev. R. Jackson

No	1802
Date of Notice	10 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Schafer	Dora Reddar
	💍 No corresponding marriage registration found
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Lincoln	Prebbleton
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Church near Prebbleton
Folio	583
Consent	Christopher Reddar, Father
Date of Certificate	10 October 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Jackson

1803

12 October 1868

William Withey
Mary Ann Orr

William Withey
Mary Ann Orme
💍 1868/6404

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Servant

36
24

Christchurch
Do

10 years
3 years

In the Church of St Michael

611

12 October 1868

The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs

No	1803
Date of Notice	12 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Withey	Mary Ann Orr
BDM Match (92%)	William Withey	Mary Ann Orme
	💍 1868/6404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Servant
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of St Michael
Folio	611
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1868
Officiating Minister	The Very Rev. Dean Jacobs

1804

13 October 1868

Daniel Malone
Elizabeth Stevenson

Daniel Malone
Elizabeth Stevenson
💍 1868/6041

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

30
22

Selwyn
Christchurch

3 weeks
5 years

In the Roman Catholic Chapel

481

13 October 1868

Rev. Father Chataigne

No	1804
Date of Notice	13 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Malone	Elizabeth Stevenson
	💍 1868/6041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Selwyn	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Chapel
Folio	481
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Chataigne

1805

16 October 1868

George William Hales
Jane Jordan

George William Hales
Joyce Janet Jordan
💍 1868/6410

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Servant

27
18

Avonside
Do

1 month
3 years

In the Church of St. Michael

613

William Jordan, Father

3 November 1868

Rev. E.N. Lingard

No	1805
Date of Notice	16 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Hales	Jane Jordan
BDM Match (81%)	George William Hales	Joyce Janet Jordan
	💍 1868/6410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Servant
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Avonside	Do
Length of Residence	1 month	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of St. Michael
Folio	613
Consent	William Jordan, Father
Date of Certificate	3 November 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. E.N. Lingard

1806

21 October 1868

Archibald Mc. Cole
Ina Munro

Archibald McColl
Ina Monro
💍 1868/6641

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Servant

27
24

Christchurch
Do

11 months
2 weeks

In the Alford Hotel

693

21 October 1868

Rev. J. McIntosh

No	1806
Date of Notice	21 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Mc. Cole	Ina Munro
BDM Match (86%)	Archibald McColl	Ina Monro
	💍 1868/6641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Servant
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	11 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Alford Hotel
Folio	693
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McIntosh

1807

22 October 1868

Charles Hadfield
Eliza Pain

Charles Hadfield
Eliza Pain
💍 1868/6311

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

23
25

Christchurch
Do

2 years
4 years

In the House of Mr. Hislop, Armagh Street

578

6 November 1868

Rev. W. J. Habens

No	1807
Date of Notice	22 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hadfield	Eliza Pain
	💍 1868/6311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. Hislop, Armagh Street
Folio	578
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Habens

1808

26 October 1868

Thomas Huddy
Phillipa Morcom

No corresponding marriage registration found

Bachelor
Spinster

Ostler
Servant

32
24

Avonside
Do

1 month
1 month

In the Avonside Church

26 October 1868

Rev. J. C. Bagshaw

No	1808
Date of Notice	26 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Huddy	Phillipa Morcom
	💍 No corresponding marriage registration found
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ostler	Servant
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Avonside	Do
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	In the Avonside Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Bagshaw

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).