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 235

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 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
6	3 October 1862	George Hopgood Virtue Elizabeth Silcock	George Hopgood Virtue Elizabeth Silcock 💍 1862/3922	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 17	Waimea South Waimea South	16 years 17 years	At the residence of Simon Bonnett Silcock, Waimea South	Simon Bonnett Silcock, father	3 October 1862	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
7	13 October 1862	John Mills Isabella Biggs	John Mills Isabella Biggs 💍 1862/4066	Bachelor Spinster	Cloth weaver	32 25	Brook Street, Nelson Waimea Road, Nelson	1 year 11 years	At the residence of William Mills, cloth weaver, Brook Street		13 October 1862	Rev. William Moore Bliss
8	18 October 1862	James Grove Frances Jane Nattrass	James Grove Frances Janne Nattrass 💍 1862/3907	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	33 25	Appleby, Waimea East Bridge Street, Nelson	2 months 17 years	At the office of the Registrar of marriages in Nelson		1 November 1862	John Poynter, Registrar of Marriages
9	7 November 1862	John Armstrong Elizabeth Armstrong	John Armstrong Elizabeth Armstrong 💍 1862/3975	Widower Spinster	Carter	44 42	Bridge Street, Nelson Vanguard Street, Nelson	21 years 5 weeks	At the residence of Joseph Bradey, constable, Bridge Street, Nelson		7 November 1862	Rev. Edward Thomas
10	12 November 1862	Henry Bryant Charlotte Neal	Henry Bryant Charlotte Neal 💍 1862/3929	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	28 18	Waimea South Waimea East	15 months 3 years	At the residence of William Neal, Waimea East	William Neal, father	12 November 1862	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
11	24 November 1862	Hender Luke Noble Clarke Amelia Matilda Agatha Osley	Hender Luke Noble Clarke Amelia Matilda Agatha Oxley 💍 1862/2047	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	34 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	10 years 1 year	At Christchurch, Nelson		24 November 1862	Rev. Henry Meysey Turton
12	29 November 1862	James Sutton Mary Ann Whibley	James Sutton Mary Ann Whebbly 💍 1862/3932	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	20 18	Waimea East Waimea East	8 years 14 years	At the residence of Edward Whibley, farmer, Waimea East	George Sutton, father; Edward Whibley, father	29 November 1862	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
13	4 December 1862	Thomas Mckenzie Dinah Hay	Thomas McKenzie Dinah Hay 💍 1862/4105	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	30 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 2 years	At the Presbyterian Church in Nelson	Dinah Hay, mother	4 December 1862	Rev. Patrick Calder
14	15 December 1862	Frederick Reed Mills Sarah Webley	Frederick Reed Mills Sarah Webley 💍 1862/4069	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	23 26	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 3 years	At the residence of Frederick Reed Mills, miner, Grove Street, Nelson		30 December 1862	Rev. William Moore Bliss
15	15 December 1862	Thomas Martin Margaret Hall	Thomas Martin Margaret Hall 💍 1862/3978 John Ward Margaret Hall 💍 1862/3286	Widower Widow	Labourer	41 51	City of Nelson City of Nelson	9 months 2 years	At the residence of Thomas Martin, labourer, Brook Street, Nelson		15 December 1862	Rev. Edward Thomas
16	20 December 1862	Thomas Berry Bridget Catherine Shannon	Thomas Berrey Bridget Shannon 💍 1863/6745	Bachelor Spinster	Stevedore	21 17	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 weeks 8 years	At the Catholic Church in Nelson	Michael Shannon, father	20 December 1862	[UNCLEAR]
17	27 December 1862	George William Sauling Maria Louisa Smith	George William Pauling Maria Louisa Smith 💍 1862/4025	Bachelor Spinster	Land agent	42 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	8 years 10 years	At Christchurch, Nelson	Elizabeth Smith, mother	27 December 1862	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).