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 129

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1858

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
47	2 October 1858	William John Wakefield Christina Laukow	William John Wakefield Christina Lankow 💍 1858/1944	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 years 22 years	Waimea South Waimea East	2 years 14 years	at the protestant Chiscopalian Church Richmond Waimea East		2 October 1858	Rev. Samuel Poole
48	4 October 1858	Henry Beattie Priscilla Brown	Henry Beattie Marcella Brown 💍 1858/1923	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	35 years 38 years	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	4 days 4 days	at the protestant Episcopdlian Church in Nelson		18 October 1858	Rev. Rob. B. Paul
49	7 October 1858	William Calverley Riley Susan Trist	William Riley Susan Trist 💍 1858/1864	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	26 years 20 years	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	3 days 2 years	at the residence of Thos Heyward Bridge St, Nelson	Elizabeth Heyward mother	7 October 1858	Rev. John Warren
50	7 October 1858	John Martin Elizabeth Ainley Matthews	John Martin Elizth Mathews 💍 1858/1867	Bachelor Spinster	Publican	24 years 27 years	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	4 months 4 months	at the Wesleyan Chapel Hardy St. Nelson		7 October 1858	Rev. John Warren
51	13 October 1858	Andrew Rutherford Laura Jeffries	Andrew Rutherford Laura Jeffries 💍 1858/1885	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	24 years 20 years	Waimea south Waimea south	7 years 16 years	at the residence of Mr. Geo. Rutherford Waimea south	William Jeffries Father	29 October 1858	Rev. Patrick Calder
52	18 October 1858	Joseph Bradcock Mary Anne Howieson	Joseph Bradcock Mary A Howerson 💍 1858/1808	Bachelor Widow	Sawyer	31 years 31 years	Suburban South Suburban south	4 years 4 years	at the protestant Episcopalian church in Nelson			not issued
53	23 October 1858	Henry Sutton Emma Charlotte King	Henry Sutton Emma C King 💍 1858/1811	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 years 21 years	Waimea East Town of Nelson	8 years 5 years	at the residence of James King Oxford Cottage Vanguard St Nelson		4 Nov 1858	Rev. John Warren
54	26 October 1858	Joseph John Herrick Helen Letitia Hammond	Joseph J Herrick Helen L Hammond 💍 1858/1814	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 years 18 years	Waimea South Waimea south	10 years 10 years	at the residence of Daniel Moulder in the Town of Nelson	William Hammond Father	26 October 1858	Rev. John Warren
55	27 October 1858	Joseph Bradcock Mary Anne Houreson	Joseph Bradcock Mary A Howerson 💍 1858/1808	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	31 years 31 years	Suburban South Suburban South	4 years 4 years	at the residence of Mr Thomas Berry Government Depot Nelson		27 October 1858	Rev. John Warren
56	26 October 1858	William Palmer Mary Small	William Palmer Mary Small 💍 1858/1947	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	19 years 18 years	Waimea South Waimea south	5 years 5 years	at the protestant Chiscopalian church Spring Grove Waimea South	Elizabeth Hyde Mother James Small father	15 November 1858	Rev. Samuel Poole
57	1 December 1858	William Picton Ann Hughes Smith	William Picton Ann Hughes Smith 💍 1858/1852	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	33 years 25 years	Town of Nelson Town of Nelson	3 weeks 9 months	at the residence of Mr. Geo. Browning Bridge St. Nelson		1 December 1858	Rev. Edward Thomas
58	6 December 1858	Johann George Gottfried Sixtus Margaretha Dorothea Adelheid Bensenann	Johann Georg Gottfried Sixtus Margretha Dorothea Adelheid Bensemann 💍 1859/2177	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 years 21 years	Upper Moutere Upper Moutere	3 years 2 years	In the School house Upper Moutere		6 December 1858	Rev. Mr. Chris Heine
59	7 December 1858	Quintin Hill Jemima Badman	Quintin Hill Jemima Badman 💍 1858/1816	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 years 23 years	Town of Nelson Waimea South	3 days 3 years	at the residence of Mr. Saml Badman Waimea South		8 Dec 1858	Rev. John Warren

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).