Intentions to Marry, 1871

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840383, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 524

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1871

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
266	1 April 1871	Peter Sinclair Catherine Ferguson	Peter Sinclair Catherine Fergusson 💍 1871/7674	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	25 21	Timaru Timaru	10 months 3 weeks	Residence of Wm Campbell	72/294		1 April 1871	Rev George Barclay
267	3 April 1871	Peter Jamieson Ball Elizabeth Sarah Munley	Peter James Bell Elizabeth Sarah Murlay 💍 1871/7677	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer 23	27	Timaru Timaru	4 years 3 years	Residence of Wm Munley	72/295		3 April 1871	Rev Rainsford Bavin
268	14 April 1871	Richard Bartlett Sarah Ann Taylor	Richard Bartlett Sarah Ann Taylor 💍 1871/6024 Edward Saunders Sarah Ann Taylor 💍 1871/4422	Widower Spinster	Mariner Dressmaker	38 26	Timaru Jamestown	you 3 years	Wesleyan Chapel Timaru	71/725		14 April 1871	Rev Rainsford Bavin
269	18 April 1871	Thomas Howley Margaret Ann White	Thomas Howley Margaret Ann White 💍 1871/7662	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 22	Timaru near Timaru	2 years 2 years	St Mary Church	72/290		18 April 1871	Rev George Lester
270	19 April 1871	John Eaton Maria Thoumine	John Eaton Maria Thomine 💍 1871/5985	Widower Widow	Gardener	40 40	Timaru near Timaru	3 years 2 years	Catholic Chapel Timaru	71/712		19 April 1871	Rev Jean Baptiste Chataigner
271	28 April 1871	Mops Jones Emma Symondson	Moss Jonas Emma Symondson 💍 1871/5997	Bachelor Spinster	Dealer	30 21	Timaru Timaru	2 years 1 year	Office of Registrar of Marriages Timaru	71/716		28 April 1871	Registrar of Marriages Timaru
272	8 May 1871	Andrew Cowan Florence Andrews	Andrew Cowan Florence Andrews 💍 1871/7680	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	32 20	Timaru Timaru	4 days 1 week	Residence of Mr Taylor Timaru	72/296	Declaration made no person in the Colony to give consent to Marriage House another's	8 May 1871	Rev George Barclay
273	9 May 1871	Simon Coughlan Mary Barrett	Simon Coughlan Mary Barrett 💍 1871/3893	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 21	Kakahu Levels Plains	7 years 3 months	Catholic Chapel Geraldine	71/711	Geraldine	9 May 1871	Rev Jean Baptiste Chataigner
274	9 May 1871	William Mark Catherine Ward	William Clarke Catherine Ward 💍 1871/6027	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 18	Pareora Pareora	2 years 4 years	Wesleyan Chapel Pareora	71/726	Robert Ward father	9 May 1871	Rev Rainsford Bavin

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 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).