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 633

District of Gabriels Quarter ending 31 December 1870

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

151

15 October 1870

Carl Frederick August Klingst
Charlotte Elise Commissiong

Carl Frederick Auguste Klinget
Charlotte Elise Comissions
💍 1870/8997

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Governess

35 years
25 years

Tuapeka on the Road to Tuapeka Month
At Mr Smith Residence Tuapeka Mouth

6 years
2 years

At the Residence of Mr James Smith at Green Field Station

15 October 1870

The Revd G P Beaumont

No	151
Date of Notice	15 October 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Frederick August Klingst	Charlotte Elise Commissiong
BDM Match (93%)	Carl Frederick Auguste Klinget	Charlotte Elise Comissions
	💍 1870/8997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Governess
Age	35 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Tuapeka on the Road to Tuapeka Month	At Mr Smith Residence Tuapeka Mouth
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Mr James Smith at Green Field Station
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1870
Officiating Minister	The Revd G P Beaumont

152

1 November 1870

Bernard Mullen
Grace Kane

Bernard Mullin
Grace Kane
💍 1870/8961

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

24 years
23 years

Lawrence
Lawrence

3 days
1 month

At the Roman Catholic Chapel at Lawrence

1 November 1870

The Revd Jean Maria Ecuyer

No	152
Date of Notice	1 November 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Mullen	Grace Kane
BDM Match (96%)	Bernard Mullin	Grace Kane
	💍 1870/8961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	24 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Chapel at Lawrence
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1870
Officiating Minister	The Revd Jean Maria Ecuyer

153

4 November 1870

Augustus Blewitt
Catherine Allen

Augustus Blewitt
Catherine Allen
💍 1870/8988

Bachelor
Spinster

Chinese Interpreter

39 years
21 years

Tuapeka
Tuapeka

3 years
2 weeks

At the Office of the Registrar at Lawrence

4 November 1870

The Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages at Gabriels

No	153
Date of Notice	4 November 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Blewitt	Catherine Allen
	💍 1870/8988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chinese Interpreter
Age	39 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Tuapeka	Tuapeka
Length of Residence	3 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar at Lawrence
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1870
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages at Gabriels

154

18 November 1870

Michael Ryan
Ann Moriarty

Michael Ryan
Ann Moriarty
💍 1870/8964

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

32 years
21 years

Lawrence
Lawrence

8 years
3 months

At the Roman Catholic Chapel at Lawrence

18 November 1870

The Revd Jean Maria Ecuyer

No	154
Date of Notice	18 November 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Ryan	Ann Moriarty
	💍 1870/8964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	32 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	8 years	3 months
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Chapel at Lawrence
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1870
Officiating Minister	The Revd Jean Maria Ecuyer

155

1 December 1870

Joshua Chatburn
Ann Shaw

Joshua Chatburn
Anne Shaw
💍 1870/9000

Bachelor
Widow

Miner

40 years
33 years

Blue Spur
Blue Spur

3 days
8 years

At the Church of England Parsonage, Lawrence

1 December 1870

The Revd G P Beaumont

No	155
Date of Notice	1 December 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joshua Chatburn	Ann Shaw
BDM Match (94%)	Joshua Chatburn	Anne Shaw
	💍 1870/9000
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	40 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Blue Spur	Blue Spur
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	At the Church of England Parsonage, Lawrence
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1870
Officiating Minister	The Revd G P Beaumont

156

17 December 1870

James Francis Leary
Martha Peters

James Francis Leary
Martha Peters
💍 1870/8985

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
House Servant

26 years
23 years

Lawrence
Lawrence

4 months
7 months

At the Residence of Mr Peters, Weatherstones

17 December 1870

The Revd William Keall

No	156
Date of Notice	17 December 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis Leary	Martha Peters
	💍 1870/8985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	House Servant
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	4 months	7 months
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Mr Peters, Weatherstones
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1870
Officiating Minister	The Revd William Keall

157

23 December 1870

James Low
Isabella McPherson

James Low
Isabella McPherson
💍 1870/9072

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

27 years
20 years

Lawrence
Tokomairiro

2 years
7 months

At the Residence of Mrs E McPherson, Tokomairiro

23 December 1870

The Revd James Chisholm

No	157
Date of Notice	23 December 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Low	Isabella McPherson
	💍 1870/9072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	2 years	7 months
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Mrs E McPherson, Tokomairiro
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1870
Officiating Minister	The Revd James Chisholm

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 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).