1862 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840374, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 220

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1862

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
22	1 April 1862	William Black Werilda Henderson Busdon	William Black Everilda Henderson Buxten 💍 1862/4078	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 26	City of Nelson Suburban South	One year Ten years	At the residence of Edmund Buxton, gentleman		1 April 1862	Rev. Patrick Calder
23	5 April 1862	John Withey Annie Horsey	John Withey Annie Horsey 💍 1862/3993	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	39 27	Waimea East Waimea East	12 months one month	At Christ Church Nelson		5 April 1862	Rev. Henry Meysey
24	10 April 1862	William Overend Sarah Jane Hamilton	William Overend Sarah Jane Hamilton 💍 1862/4081	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Four days Two weeks	At the residence of Thomas Greig, storekeeper, Waimea road		10 April 1862	Rev. Patrick Calder
25	12 April 1862	Frederick Mead Jane Louden	Frederick Mead Jane Louden 💍 1862/3919	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	22 20	Wakefield Spring Grove	Five years Six years	At the residence of William Louden, Blacksmith, Spring Grove	William Louden, Father	12 April 1862	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
26	12 April 1862	Charles Masters Mary Harford	Charles Masters Mary Harford 💍 1862/3916	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	23 22	City of Nelson Waimea East	Four days Ten years	At the residence of James Harford, Farmer, Waimea East		12 April 1862	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
27	14 April 1862	James Moore Anna Maria Julian	James Moore Annie Maria Julian 💍 1862/4084	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	26 17	Washington Valley Washington Valley	Twelve years Two years	At the residence of Mr James Moore, Carter, Washington Valley	Richard Julian, Father	14 April 1862	Rev. Patrick Calder
28	14 April 1862	John Draper Adele Mae Shane	John Draper Adele Macshane 💍 1862/3996	Bachelor Spinster	Commissariat officer	28 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	One week Seven years	At Christ Church in Nelson	Clara Mae Shane, Mother	14 April 1862	Rev. Henry Meysey
29	15 April 1862	Robert Jones Emily Gwillim	Robert Jones Emily Gwillim 💍 1862/3951	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 18	Pelorus Valley Pelorus Valley	Two years One year	At the residence of Thomas Gwillim, Farmer, Pelorus Valley	Thomas Gwillim, Father	15 April 1862	Rev. Edward Thomas
30	16 April 1862	Charles John Taylor Sarah Elizabeth George	Charles Taylor Elizabeth Sarah George 💍 1862/4002	Bachelor Spinster	Esquire	34 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Five weeks Five years	At Christ Church in Nelson	Mary Domett, Mother	16 April 1862	Rev. Henry Meysey
31	16 April 1862	Arthur Baigent Ann Price	Arthur Baigent Anne Price 💍 1862/3999	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	24 21	Wakefield Wakefield	Eighteen years Eighteen years	At Christ Church Nelson		16 April 1862	Rev. Henry Meysey
32	17 April 1862	Joseph Shaw Elizabeth Robinson	Joseph Shaw Elizabeth Robinson 💍 1862/4087	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	39 37	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Four years Nineteen years	At the residence of Elizabeth Robinson, widow, Toi Toi Valley		17 April 1862	Rev. Patrick Calder
33	19 April 1862	John Kidson the younger Martha Newport	John Kidson Martha Newport 💍 1862/3954	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 21	Brook Street, Nelson Brook Street, Nelson	Twenty years Eighteen years	At the residence of John Kidson the younger, labourer, Brook Street		19 April 1862	Rev. Edward Thomas
34	21 April 1862	James William Hockwell Sarah Ann Lockyer	James William Stockwell Sarah Anne Lockyer 💍 1862/4005	Widower Spinster	Carman	42 33	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Seven years Two years	At Christ Church Nelson		6 May 1862	Rev. Henry Meysey
35	24 April 1862	Joseph Paul Emily Ann Davenport	Joseph Paul Emily Ann Davenport 💍 1862/4122	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	23 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Six months Six months	At the residence of Joseph Paul, draper, Bridge Street		24 April 1862	Rev. Jonathan Innes

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).