Intentions to Marry, 1870

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840382, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, November 15 2024

Page 529

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1870

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
238	2 July 1870	John Murray Jane Smith	John Murray Jane Smith 💍 1870/7995	Bachelor Spinster	Shipwright	36 30	Timaru Timaru	1½ years 3 days	W Anderson's Residence, Timaru		2 July 1870	Revd. George Barclay
239	6 July 1870	William Healey Catherine Annie Barnes	William Healey Katherine Annie Barnes 💍 1870/8049	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	23 17	Timaru Timaru	3 years 9 months	St. Mary Church, Timaru	Declaration made no person in the Colony to give consent	6 July 1870	Revd. George Foster
240	2 August 1870	John William Alfred Coulson Caroline Mynott	John Wm Alfred Coulson Caroline Mynatt 💍 1870/7998	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter Servant	47 49	Opawa Opawa	14 days 28 days	Presbyterian Church, Timaru		2 August 1870	Revd. George Barclay
241	9 August 1870	John Gardner Ellen Cook	John Gardner Ellen Cook 💍 1870/8001	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	30 22	Timaru Timaru	2 years 2 years	Wesleyan Chapel, Timaru		9 August 1870	Revd. Rainsford Bavin
242	9 August 1870	Andrew Beldy Alice Agnes Stonyer	Andrew Beldy Alice Agnes Stonyer 💍 1870/8037	Widower Widow	Tobacconist	40 32	Timaru Timaru	5 years 6 months	Registrar's Office, Timaru		9 August 1870	Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
243	10 August 1870	James Abiathar Martin Metherell Ann Fieldhouse	James Abiather Martin Metherell Ann Fieldhouse 💍 1870/8064	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	31 33	Pleasant Point near Timaru	1½ years 7 years	Residence of W Blackmore, Timaru		10 August 1870	Revd. Rainsford Bavin
244	12 August 1870	John Gardner Ellen Cook	John Gardner Ellen Cook 💍 1870/8001	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	30 22	Timaru Timaru	2 years 2 years	Residence of Mr Dockrell, Timaru		12 August 1870	Revd. George Barclay
245	12 August 1870	Robert Scarf Elizabeth Cradock	Robert Scarf Elizabeth Cradock 💍 1870/3833	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	31 26	Timaru Timaru	11 years 3 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru		26 August 1870	Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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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 1899. 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).