Intentions to Marry, 1860

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840372, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 155

District of Nelson Quarter ending September 1860

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
28	19 June 1860	Ford Woolley	"Vide Returns for the June quarter"
29	25 June 1860	Edmonson Robinson	"Vide Returns for the June quarter"
31	3 July 1860	Richard Matthews Margaret Bell	Richard Matthews Margaret Bell 💍 1860/1837	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 22	Hardy Street Nelson Brougham St Nelson	eighteen years Twelve months	At the residence of W.William Bell farmer Waimea West		18 July 1860	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
32	4 July 1860	William Clarke Mary Rourke	William Clark Mary Rourke 💍 1860/3700	Bachelor Spinster	Shearer	23 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	eighteen days eighteen days	At the Catholic Church in Nelson		4 July 1860	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
33	5 July 1860	George Hambrook Harriett Ann Gough	George Hamhook Harriet Ann Gough 💍 1860/3941	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 25	Collingwood St Nelson Collingwood St Nelson	Six weeks Three days	at the residence of W. John Braddock chemist Collingwood Nelson		6 July 1860	Rev. Patrick Calder
34	11 July 1860	Edward Irvine Margaret Gorman	Edward Irvine Margaret Gorman 💍 1860/3944	Widower Spinster		38 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Two months Two months	In the presbyterian Church in nelson	Declaration that no person in N.Z hath authority to consent	11 July 1860	Rev. Patrick Calder
35	11 July 1860	Andrew M. Donald Emma Hodgkinson	Andrew McDonald Emma Hodgkinson 💍 1860/3670	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	28 20	Wakefield Wakefield	Seven days fourteen yrs	at the residence of W. German Hodgkinson in Wakefield	German Hodgkinson father	11 July 1860	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
36	11 July 1860	Joachim Johann Friederich Bockmann Maria Sophia Catharina Schwarz	Joachim Johann Friedrich Bockmann Maria Sophia Cathrina Schwarz 💍 1860/3905	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 27	Ranzau Waimea East Ranzau Waimea East	Two weeks Two weeks	at the residence of W. Friederich Bockmann Labourer Ranzau Waimea East		29 July 1860	Rev. Jno. Mill. Chri. Heine
37	12 July 1860	Thomas Martin Wimsett Jane Dane	Thomas Martin Kinsett Jane Dane 💍 1860/3790	Widower Widow	Blacksmith	48 48	Hardy Street, Nelson Toi Toi Valley, Nelson	eight years Fourteen yrs	at the residence of W. Jane Dane Toi Toi Valley Nelson		12 July 1860	Rev. Edward Thomas.
38	18 July 1860	Frederick Dimmick Mary Mercer	Frederick Dimmick Mary Mercer 💍 1860/3778	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 23	Appleby Waimea East Appleby Waimea East	nine mos ten years	at the protestant Episcopalian Church in Richmond		1 August 1860	Rev. Samuel Poole
39	26 July 1860	Francis William Howeray Ann Stanton	Francis William Flowerday Ann Stanton 💍 1860/3718	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	27 16	Waimea Road Nelson Waimea Road Nelson	three mos twelve mos	at the residence of W. Edward Stanton Waimea Road Nelson	Edward Stanton father	26 July 1860	Rev. Jonathan Innes.
40	26 July 1860	William Boddington Agnes Wallace	William Boddington Agnes Wallace 💍 1860/4054	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 21	Waimea South Waimea South	fifteen years Six years	at the residence of W. John Wallace Blacksmith Waimea South		26 July 1860	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
41	1 August 1860	George Craib Emma Moore	George Caraib Emma Moor 💍 1860/3950	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	32 23	Maitai Suburban North Maitai Suburban North	nine mos Eight days	at the residence of W. James Winser farmer Maitai Valley		1 August 1860	Rev. Patrick Calder
42	1 August 1860	Henry Edwards Fanny Nixon	Henry Edwards Fanny Nixon 💍 1860/3760	Bachelor Spinster	Merchants clerk	22 21	Grove Street Nelson Grove Street Nelson	ten years ten years	at the protestant Episcopalian Church in Nelson		15 August 1860	Rev. Henry Meysey Turton
43	1 August 1860	William Jeffries Mary Leary	William Jeffries Mary Leary 💍 1860/3676	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	23 28	Waimea South Waimea South	two weeks two weeks	at the residence of W. William Jeffries Sawyer Waimea South		1 August 1860	Rev. Decimus Dolamore

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).