Intentions to Marry, 1861

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840373, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 11 2024

Page 185

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1861

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
72	20 September 1861	Alfred Amos Mary Ann Parmenter	Alfred Amos Mary Ann Parmenter 💍 1861/1920	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 36	Waimea West City of Nelson	6 years 6 years	at the protestant Episcopalian Church	5 October 1861	Rev. Jonathan Innes
75	18 October 1861	John Livingston Janet Coombry Duvar	John Livingston Janet Coventry Dewar 💍 1861/3709	Bachelor Spinster	Artist	29 36	Collingwood at Nelson Collingwood at Nelson	6 months 2 years	at the residence of John Thomas Hodgson	2 November 1861	Rev. Henry M. Turton
76	18 October 1861	John Thomas Hodgson Sarah Ann Hill	John Thomas Hodgson Sarah Ann Hill 💍 1861/3799	Bachelor Widow	Artist	29 36	Collingwood at Nelson Collingwood at Nelson	2 years 2 years		18 October 1861	Rev. Patrick Calder
77	19 October 1861	Thomas Henry Foy Eliza Wimsett	Thomas Henry Foy Eliza Winsett 💍 1861/3753	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 22	Franklin St. Nelson Waimea Road Nelson	18 years 7 years	at the residence of Thomas Henry Foy	19 October 1861	Rev. Jonathan Innes
78	28 October 1861	Israel Johns Ellen Fowler	Israel Johns Ellen Fowler 💍 1861/4201	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 3 years	at the residence of Thomas Trewhullar Baker	28 October 1861	Rev. William Moore Biss
79	29 October 1861	Thomas Henry Chisnall Adeline Buschon	Thomas Henry Chisnell Adeline Buxton 💍 1861/3772	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 31	Suburban South Suburban South	6 years 9 years	at the residence of Edmund Buschon Merchant	29 October 1861	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
80	30 October 1861	William Best Elizabeth Drummond	William Best Elizabeth Drummond 💍 1861/3802	Widower Spinster	Farmer	41 36	City of Nelson Waimea East	6 days 6 days	at the Presbyterian Church	30 October 1861	Rev. Patrick Calder
81	6 November 1861	Lawrence Hargreaves Eliza Rosam	Lawrence Hargreaves Eliza Rosam 💍 1861/3712	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	35 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	20 years 2 years	at the protestant Episcopalian church	20 November 1861	Rev. Henry M. Turton
82	6 November 1861	Israel Johns Ellen Fowler	Israel Johns Ellen Fowler 💍 1861/4201	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 3 years	at the residence of William Fowler Farmer	6 November 1861	Rev. William Moore Biss
83	11 November 1861	John Coleman Sarah Ann Ball	John Coleman Sarah Ann Ball 💍 1861/3756	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	20 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 4 years	at the residence of William Ball Carpenter	11 November 1861	Rev. Jonathan Innes
84	13 November 1861	Joseph Francis Cast Susan Frost	Joseph Francis East Susan Frost 💍 1861/3653	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	27 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 years 12 years	at the residence of Hugh M. Donald Engineer	15 November 1861	Rev. Edward Thomas
85	18 November 1861	Israel Johns Ellen Fowler	Israel Johns Ellen Fowler 💍 1861/4201	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 3 years	at the residence of W. Charles Munty	18 November 1861	Rev. William Moore Biss
86	19 November 1861	Vere Bogle Elizabeth Williamson Bruce	Vere Bogle Elizabeth Williamson Bruce 💍 1861/3656	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	31 30	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 month 3 years	at the residence of Elizabeth Williamson Bruce	19 November 1861	Rev. Edward Thomas
87	22 November 1861	James Alfred McCuat Annie Beamsley	James Alfred McCuat Annie Bramsley 💍 1861/3659	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	25 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 months 10 years	at the residence of Henry Boyd Labourer	22 November 1861	Rev. Edward Thomas

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).