Intentions to Marry, 1863

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840375, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 4 2024

Page 199

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1863

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
500	20 July 1863	John Boeffart Mary Elizabeth Hacket	John Rochfort Mary Elizabeth Hackett 💍 1863/6955	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	32 29	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 years 4 years	Christ church	500		20 July 1863	The Lord Bp. of Nelson
500	28 July 1863	William Sowman Emily Hale	William Sowman Emily Hale 💍 1863/6961	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	10 years 13 years	Christ church	500	William Hale, father	28 July 1863	The Lord Bp. of Nelson
501	29 July 1863	William Hale younger Sarah Ann Sowman	William Hale Sarah Ann Sowman 💍 1863/6958	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	20 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	14 years 12 years	Christ church	501	William Sowman, father	29 July 1863	The Lord Bp. of Nelson
503	2 September 1863	Lonsdale Pritt Mary Otterson	Lonsdale Pritt Mary Otterson 💍 1863/6964	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk in Holy Orders	40 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 days 20 days	Christ church	503		2 September 1863	The Lord Bp. of Nelson
504	22 August 1863	Joseph Fidgeon Eliza Pickett	Joseph Pidgeon Eliza Pickett 💍 1863/6967	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 28	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 8 years	Christ church	504		22 August 1863	Rev. R. H. Codrington
514	15 July 1863	George Harper Elizabeth St. John	George Harper Elizabeth St John 💍 1863/6991	Bachelor Widow	Writing clerk	28 33	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 years 4 years	Residence of Elizabeth St John, widow, Hardy Street Nelson	514		15 July 1863	Rev. Patrick Calder
515	29 August 1863	James Glen Lucy Bunn	James Glen Lucy Bunn 💍 1863/6994	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 15	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 month 2 years	Residence of James Clifford, Miner, Trafalgar Street Nelson	515	Elizabeth Woolf, mother	29 August 1863	Rev. Patrick Calder
516	21 August 1863	Robert Murray Christina Moore	Robert Murray Christina Moore 💍 1863/4618	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	30 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 years 12 years	Residence of Thomas Moore, Settler, Washington Road	516	Thomas Moore, Settler	21 August 1863	Rev. Patrick Calder
529	22 August 1863	George Holdaway Emily Hannah Blincoe	George Holdaway Emily Hannah Blincoe 💍 1863/6766	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 21	Richmond Nelson City	8 days 20 years	Chapel Hardy Street	529		22 August 1863	Rev. William Kirke
530	29 August 1863	William Bethwaite Mary Ann Hough	William Bethwaite Mary Ann Hough 💍 1863/6769	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	24 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 years 10 years	Residence of William Hough, Housekeeper, Bridge Street Nelson	530		29 August 1863	Rev. William Kirke
540	11 August 1863	John Jordan Mary Jane Primmer	John Jordan Mary Jane Primmer 💍 1863/6799	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 20	Richmond Waimea East	6 months 20 years	Union (Baptist) Chapel Hardy Street	540	Joseph Primmer, father	11 August 1863	Rev. Edward Thomas
550	14 July 1863	William Hart Mary Ann Hammond	William Hart Mary Ann Hammond 💍 1863/6829	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 21	Waimea East Waimea East	3 years 3 years	Residence of Richard Hart farmer, Waimea East	550		29 July 1863	Rev. Wm Moore Biss
551	8 August 1863	Jabez Packer Matilda Payne	Jabex Packer Matilda Payne 💍 1863/6832	Widower Spinster	Teacher	56 26	Hope Waimea East Hope Waimea East	9 years 6 months	Residence of Jabez Packer, Teacher, Hope	551		8 August 1863	Rev. Wm Moore Biss
552	24 August 1863	Henry Black Allen M. Donald	Henry Black Ellen McDonald 💍 1863/6835	Widower Widow	Baker	35 27	City of Nelson City of Nelson	8 months 3 years	Residence of William Merritt, Painter, Tasman Street Nelson	552		24 August 1863	Rev. William Moore Biss

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).