1856 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840368, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 18 2024

Page 079

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1856 Registrar John Poynter

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

22 December 1855

Henry Gill
Elizabeth Barns

Henry Gill
Elizabeth Barnes
💍 1856/1207

Bachelor
Spinster

Shearer

24
19

Suburban North
Suburban North

Five years
Five years

at the residence of Mr N. Gill farmer, Suburban North

7 January 1856

Rev. Thomas Dickson Nicholson

No	1
Date of Notice	22 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gill	Elizabeth Barns
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Gill	Elizabeth Barnes
	💍 1856/1207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shearer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Suburban North	Suburban North
Length of Residence	Five years	Five years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr N. Gill farmer, Suburban North
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1856
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Dickson Nicholson

22 February 1856

Charles Edwards
Mary Ann Richardson

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
18

Town of Nelson
Town of Nelson

Five years
Five years

Episcopalian Church in Nelson

10 March 1856

Henry Francis Butt

No	2
Date of Notice	22 February 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwards	Mary Ann Richardson
BDM Match (6%)
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Town of Nelson	Town of Nelson
Length of Residence	Five years	Five years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church in Nelson
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1856
Officiating Minister	Henry Francis Butt

26 February 1856

William Gaukrodger
Elizabeth Ann Wimsett

William Gaukreger
Elizabeth Ann Winsett
💍 1856/1759

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
20

Waimea South
Town of Nelson

Five years
Four years

at the residence of Mr Thos Wimsett, Hardy Street Nelson

10 March 1856

John Poynter Registrar of Marriages Nelson

No	3
Date of Notice	26 February 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gaukrodger	Elizabeth Ann Wimsett
BDM Match (92%)	William Gaukreger	Elizabeth Ann Winsett
	💍 1856/1759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Waimea South	Town of Nelson
Length of Residence	Five years	Four years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr Thos Wimsett, Hardy Street Nelson
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1856
Officiating Minister	John Poynter Registrar of Marriages Nelson

5 March 1856

John William Theodore Lechner
Mary Stantone

John William Theodore Lechner
Mary Stanton
💍 1856/1878

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

29
20

Waimea East
Waimea East

Fourteen days
Five years

at the Presbyterian Church in Nelson

5 March 1856

Rev. Thomas Dickson Nicholson

No	4
Date of Notice	5 March 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Theodore Lechner	Mary Stantone
BDM Match (96%)	John William Theodore Lechner	Mary Stanton
	💍 1856/1878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Waimea East	Waimea East
Length of Residence	Fourteen days	Five years
Marriage Place	at the Presbyterian Church in Nelson
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1856
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Dickson Nicholson

10 March 1856

George Kinzett the Younger
Jemima Hebberd

George Kinzett
Jemima Hebberd
💍 1856/1818

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
23

Waimea East
Suburban North

Two years
Five years

at the office of the Registrar of Marriages in Nelson

10 March 1856

John Poynter Registrar of Marriages Nelson

No	5
Date of Notice	10 March 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Kinzett the Younger	Jemima Hebberd
BDM Match (77%)	George Kinzett	Jemima Hebberd
	💍 1856/1818
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Waimea East	Suburban North
Length of Residence	Two years	Five years
Marriage Place	at the office of the Registrar of Marriages in Nelson
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1856
Officiating Minister	John Poynter Registrar of Marriages Nelson

10 March 1856

William Gill
Ann Edwards

William Gill
Ann Edwards
💍 1856/1821

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

44
23

Suburban North
Suburban North

Five years
Two years

at the residence of Mr W. Gill in Suburban North

10 March 1856

Rev. Thomas Dickson Nicholson

No	6
Date of Notice	10 March 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gill	Ann Edwards
	💍 1856/1821
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44	23
Dwelling Place	Suburban North	Suburban North
Length of Residence	Five years	Two years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr W. Gill in Suburban North
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1856
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Dickson Nicholson

19 March 1856

Henry Holland
Lydia Hodgkinson

Henry Holland
Lydia Hodgkinson
💍 1856/1765

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
22

Waimea South
Waimea South

Two years
Five years

at the office of the Registrar of marriages, Nelson

No	7
Date of Notice	19 March 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Holland	Lydia Hodgkinson
	💍 1856/1765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Waimea South	Waimea South
Length of Residence	Two years	Five years
Marriage Place	at the office of the Registrar of marriages, Nelson
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

20 March 1856

John Thomas Berry
Giles Gibson

John Thomas Berry
Giles Gibson
💍 1856/1762

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
21

Town of Nelson
Town of Nelson

Five years
Five years

at the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

26 March 1856

John Poynter Registrar of Marriages Nelson

No	8
Date of Notice	20 March 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Berry	Giles Gibson
	💍 1856/1762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Town of Nelson	Town of Nelson
Length of Residence	Five years	Five years
Marriage Place	at the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1856
Officiating Minister	John Poynter Registrar of Marriages Nelson

26 March 1856

John Fraser
Mary Clark

John Fraser
Mary Clark
💍 1856/1824

Widower
Widow

Sheep Farmer

43
29

Waihopai, Wairau
Town of Nelson

Three years
Six months

at the residence of Mr Jno Carter in the Waimea Road, Nelson

26 March 1856

Rev. Thomas Dickson Nicholson

No	9
Date of Notice	26 March 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fraser	Mary Clark
	💍 1856/1824
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	43	29
Dwelling Place	Waihopai, Wairau	Town of Nelson
Length of Residence	Three years	Six months
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr Jno Carter in the Waimea Road, Nelson
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1856
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Dickson Nicholson

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).