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 209

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1862

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1	2 January 1862	William Bankes Southwell Emily Elizabeth Gibbs	William Barker Southwell Emily Elizabeth Gibbs 💍 1862/3935	Widower Spinster	Labourer	48 34	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Thirteen years Six years	At the residence of W. Bankes Southwell, Tasman Street Nelson	2		2 January 1862	Rev. Henry M. Turton
2	6 January 1862	Charles William Nalder Maryann Minter	Charles William Nalder Mary Ann Winter 💍 1862/3938	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	20 22	City of Nelson Maitai Valley	Five years Ten years	At the residence of James Minter, Maitai Valley	2	Charles Nalder, father	6 January 1862	Rev. Edward Thomas
3	7 January 1862	John Crame Elizabeth Margaret Horn	John Oram Elizabeth Margaret Horn 💍 1862/3913	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	45 41	Waimea East Waimea East	Six years Six years	At the residence of Samuel Bartlett, Waimea South	5		7 January 1862	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
4	21 January 1862	Charles Riordan Mary Jane Watson	Charles Riordan Mary Jane Watson 💍 1862/4117 Hans Jacobson Mary Jane Watson 💍 1862/3334	Bachelor Spinster	Lawyer	24 16	Wakefield Wakefield	Three years Sixteen years	At the residence of Jacob Watson, Wakefield	21	Jacob Watson, father	21 January 1862	Rev. Jonathan Innes
5	21 January 1862	Thomas Hunter Kilgour Mary Ann Hogan	Thomas Hunter Kilgour Mary Ann Hogan 💍 1862/3941	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Six years Three months	At the residence of Thomas H. Kilgour, Haven Road Nelson	21	Mary Ann Hogan, mother	21 January 1862	Rev. Edward Thomas
6	28 January 1862	Alexander Burgess Louisa Collins	Alexander Burgess Louisa Collins 💍 1862/3981	Bachelor Spinster	Coast waiter	26 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Three days Two years	At the protestant Episcopalian Church in Nelson	28	William Collins, father	28 January 1862	The Lord Bishop of Nelson
7	31 January 1862	Henry William Jackson Ellen Martha Hall	Henry William Jackson Ellen Martha Hall 💍 1862/3944	Bachelor Spinster	Plate layer	31 21	Brook Street Valley Brook Street Valley	Six months Eighteen months	At the residence of William Martin, Brook Street Nelson	31		31 January 1862	Rev. Edward Thomas
8	1 February 1862	William Leonard Hannah Warburton	William Leonard Sophia Anna Warburton 💍 1862/2497	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 20	Brook Street Nelson Grove Street Nelson	Fourteen months Twelve months	At the Catholic Church in Nelson		Declaration that there is no person in the Colony having authority to consent	1 February 1862	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
9	11 February 1862	Timothy William Millington Jane Esdon	Timothy Wm Millington Jane Easton 💍 1862/4072	Bachelor Widow	Printer	32 26	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Seven years Seven years	At the residence of James Winter, Maitai Valley	11		11 February 1862	Rev. Patrick Calder
10	12 February 1862	Timothy Donohue Mary Ann Carney	Timothy Donohue Mary Ann Carney 💍 1862/3436	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	19 16	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Two years Three months	At the Office of the Registrar of marriages, Nelson	12	No person in N.Z. to [UNCLEAR] Michael Nicholas Carney, father	12 February 1862	The Registrar of Marriages
11	25 February 1862	Andrew Joseph Maney Ann Skillan Carruthers	Andrew Joseph Maney Ann Skillan Carruthers 💍 1862/4136	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	23 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Four days Two months	At the Catholic Church in Nelson	25		25 February 1862	Rev. Peter M. Michel
12	1 March 1862	Joseph Louis Butcher Eliza Sanders	Joseph Louis Butcher Eliza Saunders 💍 1862/3984	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Eight months Three years	At the protestant Episcopalian Church in Nelson		No person in N.Z. to [UNCLEAR]	1 March 1862	Rev. Henry M. Turton
13	7 March 1862	George Canton Mary Roberts	George Canton Mary Roberts 💍 1862/4120	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	24 22	Hope, Waimea East Hope, Waimea East	Three months Twenty years	At the Wesleyan Chapel, Hardy St.	7		7 March 1862	Rev. Jonathan Innes
14	8 March 1862	Henry Gibson Harriett Sutton	Henry Gibson Harriett Sutton 💍 1862/2104	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	25 23	City of Nelson Richmond	Four weeks Ten years	At the residence of John Sutton, Richmond	8		8 March 1862	Rev. Jonathan Innes
15	13 March 1862	James Phillip Cooke Ellen Restall	James Phillip Cooke Ellen Restall 💍 1862/3947	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	25 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Two years Two years	At the residence of James Phillip Cooke, Trafalgar Square			13 March 1862	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).