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 474

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
110	1 September 1869	Duncan M.Dougall Ellen Rutherford	Duncan McDongall Ellen Rutherford 💍 1869/7521	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep farmer Servant	31 18	Rakaia Christchurch	6 weeks 3 Days	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser	1110	James Rutherford, Father	1 September 1869	Rev. C. Fraser
112	1 September 1869	Alexander Moody Elizabeth Kohler	Alexander Moody Elizabeth Kohler 💍 1869/7527	Widower Spinster	Fellmonger Servant	45 35	Ferry Road Christchurch	4 years 1 year	In the House of Mrs Jones	1112		1 September 1869	Rev. C. Fraser
140	1 September 1869	Joseph Hale Margaret Boyle	Joseph Hall Maggie Boyle 💍 1869/7605	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	26 26	Leeston Leeston	4 years 4 years	In the Burnham Church	1140		1 September 1869	Rev. F. Pember
155	24 August 1869	Arthur Appleby Amelia Cotten Thompson	Arthur Appleby Amelia Cottew Thompson 💍 1869/3992	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 26	Christchurch Do	2 years 3 months	In the Church of St. Michael	1165		24 August 1869	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
156	30 August 1869	Charles Dunford Mary Jane Wallace	Charles Dunford Mary Jane Wallace 💍 1869/7677	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 22	Waipara Do	3 years 6 months	In the Church of St. Michael	1166		30 August 1869	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs
1052	6 September 1869	John Prate Emily Chalmer	John Ratt Emily Chapman 💍 1869/7353	Bachelor Spinster	Interpreter	27 22	Christchurch near Christchurch	3 years 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Chapel	1052		6 September 1869	Rev. Father Chataigner
1111	7 September 1869	William Kennedy Sarah Ann Booth	William Kennedy Sarah Ann Booth 💍 1869/7524	Bachelor Widow	Seaman Servant	31 22	Christchurch Do	6 mths 6 years	In the House of Rev. C Fraser	1111		7 September 1869	Rev. C. Fraser
1193	7 September 1869	Daniel Manhire Eliza Annie Prate	Daniel Manhire Eliza Annie Pratt 💍 1869/7767	Widower Spinster	Carrier Servant	32 31	Addington Christchurch	7 years 4 Day	In the Congregational Chapel Ch.Ch.	1193		7 September 1869	Rev. M.J. Habens
1207	4 September 1869	William Henry Thorne Eliza Caroline Richards	William Henry Thorne Eliza Caroline Wise 💍 1869/7800	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	24 25	Ferry Road Christchurch	5 years 6 months	In the Church of St. John	1207		7 September 1869	Rev. J.Chichester

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).