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 201

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 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
552	2 October 1863	Horace Octavius Ledger Catherine Ann Watts	Horace Octavius Ledger Catherine Ann Watts 💍 1863/6838	Bachelor Spinster	Run holder	24 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	one year Twenty years	At the residence of Ann Watts, Bridge St, Nelson	553		2 October 1863	Rev. Thos. D. Nicholson
553	3 October 1863	Frederick Reid Mary Cleaver	Frederick Reid Mary Cleaver 💍 1863/6781	Bachelor Widow	Baker	22 32	Richmond Richmond	one month Eight years	At the residence of Thomas Bush, Nile Street west	534		3 October 1863	Rev. Jonathan Innes
554	7 October 1863	Henry Reginald Forster Jane Frazer Nicholson	Henry Reginald Forster Jane F Nicholson 💍 1864/8118	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	23 17	City of Nelson City of Nelson	twelve months Two years	At the residence of Mrs Hannah Frazer, Shelburne St, Nelson	751		10 October 1863	Rev. Thos. D. Nicholson
555	19 October 1863	Edward Cheadle Jane Sully	Edward Cheadle Jane Sully 💍 1863/6784	Bachelor Widow	Waterman	27 28	Haven Road Nelson Haven Road Nelson	two years Twenty years	At the residence of Abraham Voller, mariner, Haven Road	535		19 October 1863	Rev. Jonathan Innes
556	27 October 1863	Charles Spring Mary Elizabeth Garnett	Charles Spring Mary Elizabeth Garnett 💍 1863/6787	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	26 21	Spring Grove Waimea Spring Grove	Two years Seventeen years	At the residence of Henry Rowe, warehouseman, Washington Road	536		27 October 1863	Rev. Jonathan Innes
557	9 November 1863	Henry Richard Moore Weeding Mary Anne Wilkie	Henry Richard Moore Weeding Mary Anne Wilkie 💍 1863/6859	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon	22 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Seven months Seven months	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	560		9 November 1863	The Registrar of Marriages
558	14 November 1863	John Joseph Ryan Julia Josephine Jacobsen	John Joseph Ryan Julia Josephina Jacobsen 💍 1863/6754	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	23 16	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Four months Sixteen years	At the residence of John Simon Martin Jacobsen, Builder, Collingwood St, Nelson	524	John Simon Martin Jacobsen, Father	14 November 1863	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
559	17 November 1863	John Joseph Ryan Julia Josephine Jacobsen	John Joseph Ryan Julia Josephina Jacobsen 💍 1863/6754	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	23 16	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Four months Sixteen years	At the Catholic Church in Nelson	524	John Simon Martin Jacobsen, Father	17 November 1863	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
560	23 November 1863	John Malcolm Jane Jordan	John Malcolm Jane Jordan 💍 1863/6841	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Richmond Richmond	Fifteen years Five years	At the residence of Andrew Malcolm, Wheelwright, Richmond	554		23 November 1863	Rev. Will. Moore Biss
561	10 December 1863	William Henry Cole Lucy Emily Augarde	William Henry Cole Lucy Emily Augarde 💍 1863/6612	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 21	Quail Valley Waimea South Quail Valley	Four years Nine years	At the residence of Henry John Louis Augarde, farmer, Quail Valley	564		10 December 1863	Rev. Samuel Poole
562	12 December 1863	Joel Drewitt Martha Winterburn	Joel Druvill Martha Winterburn 💍 1863/7000	Bachelor Widow	Wharfinger	34 39	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Thirteen years Thirteen years	At the residence of Joel Drewitt, Wharfinger, Haven road	518		12 December 1863	Rev. Patrick Calder
563	18 December 1863	Charles Joseph Balck Christiana Jessop	Charles Joseph Balck Christianna Jessop 💍 1864/8326	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 17	Waimea East Waimea East	Eighteen years Six years	At the Baptist Chapel, Bridge St, Nelson	702	William Jessop, Father	4 January 1864	Rev. Will. Moore Biss
564	19 December 1863	Jonas Stenberg Margaret Scott	Jonas Stenberg Margaret Scott 💍 1863/7003 John Litster Margaret Scott 💍 1863/7052	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	31 31	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Six months Fifteen years	At the residence of Jonas Stenberg, Mariner, Waimea road	519		19 December 1863	Rev. Patrick Calder

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).