Intentions to Marry, 1859

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840371, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 12 2024

Page 151

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1859

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
36	4 October 1859	Benjamin Harford Jane Allcock	Benjamin Harford Sarah Alcott 💍 1859/1346	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 20	Richmond Waimea East Town of Nelson	One month Six months	At the Protestant Episcopalian Church in Nelson	James Allecock father	4 October 1859	Rev. Rob Bateman Paul
37	19 October 1859	David Frazer Eliza Gardner	David Frazer Eliza Garnar 💍 1859/2012	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	28 22	Haven Road Nelson Nelson	Eight years Seventeen Yrs	At the residence of The Rev John Warred Washington Road		5 October 1859	Rev. Patrick Calder
38	22 October 1859	John Frederick Haus Bockmann Catherine Elizabeth Truger	John Frederick Hans Bockmann Cathrine Maria Elisabeth Kruger 💍 1859/1994	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 28	Rauzan Waimea East Waimea East	Two years five months	At the residence of Farmer W Heury Lankow Panzau		19 October 1859	Rev. John Warren
39	24 October 1859	John Nash Sarah Newport	John Nash Sarah Newport 💍 1859/2003	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	32 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Three years ten years	At the Wesleyan Chapel in Hardy St. Nelson		8 Nov	Rev Geo. W. Christopher Heine
40	1 November 1859	William Brimer Mary Ann Richardson	William Brimer Mary Ann Richardson 💍 1859/2009	Bachelor Spinster	Maltster	30 20	Brook St. Nelson Tau Dieman St. Nelson	four years eighteen yrs	At the residence of Mr Will Brimer Brook St. Nelson	James Richardson Father	8 Nov	Rev. John Warren
41	11 November 1859	Joseph Hoult Maria Brusnan	Joseph Hoult Maria Brosnan 💍 1859/1990	Bachelor Spinster	Shingle Splitter	27 20	Wakefield Waimea South City of Nelson	Sixteen years four years	At the Catholic Chapel in Waimea West	Declaration that no person in the Colony had power to consent	11 Nov	Rev. A.M. Garin
42	12 Nov	William Craig Martha Small	William Craig Martha Small 💍 1859/2000	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 20	City of Nelson Waimea South	Eight days Four years	At the Presbyterian Church in Nelson	James Small Father	12 Nov	Rev. Patrick Calder
43	14 November 1859	Thomas Tucker Mary Astle	Thomas Tucker Mary Astle 💍 1859/2006	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Ten months Twelve years	At the residence of Mr W Thomas Tucker Washington Valley		14 Nov	Rev. John Warren
44	15 November 1859	Henry Alexander Carran Katherine Saxon	Henry Alexander Tarrant Katharine Saxon 💍 1859/1997	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 20	Waimea West Waimea West	four days Six years	At the Protestant Episcopalian Church in Waimea West	John Jason Father	15 Nov	Rev. Samuel Poole
45	17 November 1859	Henry Benjamin Hart Maria Matthews	Henry B Hart Maria Mathews 💍 1859/1978	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	25 27	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Ten months Nine years	At the Wesleyan Chapel in Hardy St. Nelson		17 Nov.	Rev. John Warren
46	7 December 1859	Robson Walcot Harriett Naomi Green	Robson Walcot Harriet Naomi Green 💍 1859/1987	Bachelor Spinster	Music Master	25 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Eight months Nine years	At the Protestant Episcopalian Church in Nelson	Declaration that no person in the Colony had power to consent	7 Dec	Rev. Lousdale Pritt
47	9 December 1859	John McKay Harriett Wills	John Mackay Harriett Wells 💍 1859/1984	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Three yrs Eight months	At the residence of Mr John McKay Hardy st. Nelson	Thomas Wells Father	9 Dec	Rev. Patrick Calder

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).