Intentions to Marry, 1869

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840381, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 473

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
2004	5 August 1869	George Thomson Henry Ellen Wickes	George Thompson Henry Ellen Wickes 💍 1869/7347	Bachelor Spinster	Stockowner	28 26	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 2 weeks	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	1050		5 August 1869	Rev. J. O'Reily
2005	6 August 1869	James Byers Euphemia Ogilvie	James Byers Euphemia Ogilvie 💍 1869/7518	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 26	Christchurch Addington	5 Days 6 mths	In the House of Mr. Nairn	1109		6 August 1869	Rev. C. Fraser
2006	12 August 1869	Frederick George Manning Louisa Ann Hiley	Fredk Geroge Manning Louisa Ann Hill 💍 1869/7863	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	22 18	Christchurch Christchurch	10 mths 5 years	In the Church of Rice Fraser	1228	John Hiley, Father	27 August 1869	Rev. C. Bryer
2007	13 August 1869	Arthur Gowan Bowie Sarah Ellis	Aurthur Farnie Cowie Sarah Ellis 💍 1869/7515	Widower Widow	Labourer	64 63	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 2 years	In the House of Rice Fraser	1108		13 August 1869	Rev. C. Fraser
2008	16 August 1869	Walter James Whitty Mary Ann Obrien	Walter James Whitby Mary Ann Osborn 💍 1869/7512	Bachelor Spinster	Hawker	29 21	Selwyn Ferry Road	3 mths 6 years	In the House of Alex C Fraser	1107		16 August 1869	Rev. C. Fraser
2009	19 August 1869	James McOtrick Georgina Ann Roger		Bachelor Spinster	Cattle dealer	30 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 mth 2 years	In the Church of St. Michael	1104		19 August 1869	Rev. Maughn
2010	20 August 1869	Joseph Young Mary Ann McGuire	Joseph Young Mary Anne McGuire 💍 1869/7350	Bachelor Servant	Farmer	36 36	Leeston Christchurch	3 years 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	1051		20 August 1869	Rev. Father O'Reily
2011	21 August 1869	Edwin Deacon Harry Lucy Johnson		Widower Spinster	Grazier	30 22	Riccarton Riccarton	4 years 4 years	In the Riccarton Church	1830		21 August 1869	Rev. C. Bowen
2012	21 August 1869	William Worley Amelia Luce Le Breton	William Wooley Amelia Lucy Le Breton 💍 1869/7908	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	22 17	Heathcote Waltham	5 years 5 years	In the Wesleyan Chapel	1824	Francis Le Breton, Father	21 August 1869	Rev. M. Ellidge

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).