Intentions to Marry, 1858

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840370, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 13 2024

Page 123

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1858

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1	12 January 1858	Henry Inwood Susannah Grooby	Henry Inwood Susannah Grooby 💍 1858/1855	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	23 20	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	7 days 7 days	at the residence of Mr Thomas Goodman in Bridge Street Nelson	18 January 1858	Jno Warren
2	13 January 1858	Augustus Adolphus Alexander Hood Caroline Bertha Sawyer	Augustus Adolphus Alexander Hood Caroline Bertha Sawyer 💍 1858/1894	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	35 22	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	12 days 3 months	at the residence of Mr Edmund Dartnell in Richmond Waimea East	13 January 1858	Decimus Dolamore
3	19 January 1858	Daniel Leahy Bridget Macnamara	Daniel Leahy Bridget McNamara 💍 1858/1897	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant	27 24	Waimea West Waimea West	1 year 4 years	at the Catholic Chapel	19 January 1858	A. M. Garin
4	8 February 1858	Edwin George Collins Lydia Elizabeth Wilkinson	Edwin George Collins Lydia Elizabeth Wilkinson 💍 1858/1109	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	29 18	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	3 years 2 years	at the residence of Mr John Stuck in Trafalgar Street north Nelson	8 February 1858	John M'Anew
5	10 February 1858	John Taylor Mary White	John Taylor Mary White 💍 1858/1840	Bachelor Spinster	Mason	21 22	Waimea South Waimea South	2 months 12 years	at the office of the Registrar of Marriages in the District of Nelson	10 February 1858	John Poynter
6	10 February 1858	Edwin George Collins Lydia Elizabeth Wilkinson	Edwin George Collins Lydia Elizabeth Wilkinson 💍 1858/1109	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	29 18	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	3 years 2 years	at the protestant Episcopalian Church in Nelson	10 February 1858	The Registrar of Marriages Nelson
7	24 February 1858	George Fleming Isabella Sharp	Certificate not issued	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	27 25	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	6 months 12 months	at the residence of Archibald Banks in Bridge Street Nelson	10 February 1858	Venerable Archdeacon Paul
8	1 March 1858	Alfred Dodson Elizabeth Hebberd	Alfred Dodson Elizabeth Hibberd 💍 1858/1926	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Suburban North Suburban North	5 years 5 years	at the school house in Suburban North	1 March 1858	Venerable Archdeacon Paul
9	2 March 1858	Charles Hoffmann Sophia Charlotte Elsie Steinhauser	Charles Hofmann Sophia Charlotte Elise Steinhauser 💍 1858/2561	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	27 24	Moutere Moutere	3 weeks 3 weeks	at the school house in Upper Moutere	1 March 1858	John Wm Chris Heine
10	5 March 1858	Thomas Maddock Charlotte Counteney	Thomas Maddock Charlotte Courteney 💍 1858/1081	Widower Widow	Manager of Sheep Run	45 43	Town of Nelson Appleby Waimea East	3 days 2 months	at the residence of James Poppleton Horrol in Waimea East	5 March 1858	Thos Dickson Nicholson
11	8 March 1858	Edward William Pasley Fanny Letitia Huddleston	Edward William Pasley Frances Letitia Huddleston 💍 1858/2603	Bachelor Spinster	Stockowner	22 18	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	6 days 2 years	at the protestant Episcopalian Church in Nelson	8 March 1858	Venerable Robert B. Paul
12	15 March 1858	Thomas Frampton Eliza Sophia Parsons	Thomas Frampton Eliza Sophia Parsons 💍 1858/1929	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 18	Waimea West Waimea West	6 months 8 years	at the protestant Episcopalian Church in Waimea West	3 April 1858	Samuel Poole
13	16 March 1858	William Campfield Barnett Caroline Margaret Glen	William Campfield Barrett Caroline Margaret Glen 💍 1858/2600	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	39 27	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	5 days 6 weeks	at the Protestant Episcopalian Church in Nelson	16 March 1858	Venerable R. B. Paul
14	16 March 1858	Richard Beckford Scott Mary McDougal Wells	Richard Beckford Scott Mary McDougal Wells 💍 1858/2609	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 23	Town of Nelson Suburban North	1 year 9 months	at the residence of William Wells Esq in Halifax Street Nelson	16 March 1858	Patrick Calder
15	16 March 1858	Charles Palmer Emma Phillips	Charles Balme Emma Phillips 💍 1858/2597	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	27 21	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	3 years 3 years	at the protestant Episcopalian Church in Nelson	16 March 1858	Venerable Robert B. Paul

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).