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 486

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1818	12 November 1868	Thomas Richardson Elizabeth Duffy	Thomas Richardson Elizabeth Duffey 💍 1868/6626	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 mths 3 years	In the Scotch Church	688	12 November 1868	Rev. C. Fraser
1819	12 November 1868	Henry John Hart Harriet Meddings	Henry Hart Harriet Medding 💍 1868/5927	Bachelor Widow	Dealer Hotelkeeper	31 40	Christchurch Christchurch	6 weeks 1 year	In the House of Mr. Sunwords Manchester Street	446	12 November 1868	Rev. J. Buddle
1820	19 November 1868	Francis Quastry Jane Mathews	Francis Quartly Jane Mathews 💍 1868/6413	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 24	Ellesmere Christchurch	6 years 3 mths	Little Church of St. Michaels	614	19 November 1868	The Very Rev. Henry Jacobs
1821	20 November 1868	Edward Lee Emily Ann Barlow	Edward Lee Emily Anne Barlow 💍 1868/6551	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 23	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 3 years	In the Church of St. John	662	20 November 1868	Rev. C. Bryeu Hoare
1822	26 November 1868	William Ward Margaret Campbell	William Ward Margaret Campbell 💍 1868/5930 William Walker Jessie Campbell 💍 1868/10510	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	26 22	Ferry Road Ferry Road	3 Days Do	In the House of Mr. Green	447	25 November 1868	Rev. J. Buddle
1823	27 November 1868	William Murchie Elizabeth Allen	William Stewart Murchie Elizabeth Allen 💍 1868/6629	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	30 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Days 3 Days	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser	689	27 November 1868	Rev. C. Fraser
1824	28 November 1868	Thomas Prosser Isabella Grigg	Thomas Prosser Isabella Greig 💍 1868/6632	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	35 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	In the House of Mr. Grigg	690	28 November 1868	Rev. C. Fraser
1825	28 November 1868	William Mylam Elizabeth Marsh	William Hyam Carpenter Elizabeth Marsh 💍 1868/6329	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer & Carpenter	30 30	Templeton Templeton	10 mths Do	In the Church	585	28 November 1868	Rev. R. Jackson
1826	2 December 1868	Walter Roundtree Jane M. Fadden	Walter Roundtree Jane McFadden 💍 1868/6635	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	27 26	St. Albans Christchurch	4 years 3 mths	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser	691	2 December 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).