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 184

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1861

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
52	4 July 1861	William Frederick Taylor Elizabeth Austin Tarr	William Frederick Taylor Elizabeth Austin Tarr 💍 1861/4044	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	18 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	8 years 18 years	At the presbyterian Church in Nelson	William Taylor, father	4 July 1861	Rev. Patrick Calder
53	8 July 1861	Edward Murrell Mary Ann Hidson	Edward Murrell Mary Ann Kidson 💍 1861/3641	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	24 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 months 19 years	At the residence of John Hidson the elder Brook St. Valley Nelson	John Hidson, father	9 July 1861	Rev. Edward Thomas
54	8 July 1861	Samuel Fowler Jane Clark	Samuel Fowler Jane Clark 💍 1861/3727	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 17	Riwaka Wakefield	18 years 10 years	At the Episcopalian Church Spring Grove	David Clark, father	8 July 1861	Rev. Samuel Poole
55	8 July 1861	Joseph Price Ann Clark	Joseph Price Ann Clark 💍 1861/3730	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	24 19	Wakefield Wakefield	18 years 10 years	At the Episcopalian Church Spring Grove	David Clark, father	8 July 1861	Rev. Samuel Poole
56	15 July 1861	Thomas Munster Ellen Bary	Thomas Munster Ellen Bary 💍 1861/3671	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 2 years	At the Catholic Chapel in Nelson		15 July 1861	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
57	18 July 1861	Harry Ewe Elizabeth Ann Forsyth	Harry Eure Elizabeth Ann Forsyth 💍 1861/4047	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	25 25	Bridge St. Nelson Bridge St. Nelson	2 years 2 years	At the residence of Hugh Mc. Donald, Gardener Nelson		18 July 1861	Rev. Patrick Calder
58	23 July 1861	Edward Goodall Sarah Hidson	Edward Goodall Sarah Kidson 💍 1861/3644	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	22 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 months 19 years	At the residence of John Hidson the elder Brook St. Valley Nelson		24 July 1861	Rev. Edward Thomas
59	24 July 1861	William Fairhall Elizabeth Phoebe Cowles	William Fairhall Elizabeth Phoebe Cowles 💍 1861/4050	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 35	Waimea South City of Nelson	14 years 5 months	At the Presbyterian Church in Nelson		24 July 1861	Rev. Patrick Calder
60	27 July 1861	Antoine Rose Margaret Gray	Antoine Rose Margaret Gray 💍 1861/3674	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 months 3 years	At the Catholic Chapel in Nelson		27 July 1861	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
61	2 August 1861	William Davis Jane Selanders Burns	William Davis Jane Sclanders Burns 💍 1861/4053	Widower Spinster	Photographer	22 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	8 months 18 years	At the residence of Frances Burns widow Washington & Nelson	Frances Burns, mother	2 August 1861	Rev. Patrick Calder
62	19 August 1861	William Henry Scott Harriett Ranger	William Henry Scott Harriet Ranger 💍 1861/4056	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	20 18	City of Nelson Richmond Waimea East	6 years 18 years	At the residence of Henry Kudbars Bridge St. Nelson	James Ranger, father	19 August 1861	Rev. Patrick Calder
63	19 August 1861	George Twigdin Currin Jane Eves	George Tungdin Currin Jane Eves 💍 1861/3820	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 22	Waimea South Waimea South	2 years 15 years	At the residence of William Eves, farmer Waimea South		10 September 1861	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
64	24 August 1861	Valentine Bunkell Elizabeth Ann Hockey	Valentine Bunkell Elizabeth Ann Hockey 💍 1861/3647	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	24 15	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 days 3 months	At the residence of Valentine Bunkell Brook Street	Stephen Hockey, father	24 August 1861	Rev. Edward Thomas
65	26 August 1861	Joseph Guy Mary Ann Millner	Joseph Guy Mary Anne Millner 💍 1861/3707	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	28 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	12 months 12 months	At Christ Church Nelson	Richard Millner, father	16 September 1861	Rev. Henry Meysey Turton

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).