Intentions to Marry, 1864

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840376, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 216

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1864

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
77	12 November 1864	James Franklyn Lettie Stratford	James Franklyn Kitty Stratford 💍 1864/8064	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	22 21	City of Nelson Waimea West	5 years 15 years	At the residence of George Sheppard Saddler Trafalgar St. Nelson	725		12 November 1864	Rev. William Kirk
78	18 November 1864	James Selig Diegfried (CARO) Margaret Malcolm	James Selig Siegfrid Caro Margaret Malcolm 💍 1864/7930	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon	29 16	Richmond Richmond	6 months 16 years	at the residence of Andrew Malcolm Richmond	769	Andrew Malcolm Father	19 Nov	Rev. Patrick Calder
79	19 November 1864	John Withers Elizabeth Jane Clarke	John Withers Elizabeth Jane Clarke 💍 1864/8106	Widower Spinster	Sawyer	34 23	Suburban North Suburban North	9 years 8 months	At the Upper School room Suburban North	746		16 December 1864	Rev. Geo Henry Johnstone
80	21 November 1864	Joseph Susans Mary Hammond	Joseph Susans Mary Hammond 💍 1864/8076	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	27 16	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 12 months	At the residence of John Little Labourer Collingwood Nelson	730	William Hammond Father	21 Nov	Rev. William Kirk
81	29 November 1864	Alexander Adam Mary Bain	Alexander Adam Mary Bain 💍 1864/4062	Bachelor Spinster	Inn Keeper	30 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	13 years 7 years	At the Anchor Inn Haven Road	770		29 Nov.	Rev. Patrick Calder
82	1 December 1864	Henry Hammond Esther Nichols	Henry Hammond Esther Nicholls 💍 1864/8067	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	25 18	Waimea East Waimea East	1 week 1 week	At the residence of Alfred Hammond Waimea East	726	Joshua Nichols Father	1 Decr	Rev. James Mallis
83	7 December 1864	David Greig Charlotte Wignell	David Greig Charlotte Wignell 💍 1864/7933	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	10 years 9 years	at the residence of Thomas Greig Waimea road	771	William Wignell Father	7 Decr.	Rev. Patrick Calder
84	12 December 1864	William James Maclaren Caroline Graham Lloyd	William James MacLaren Caroline Sarah Ann Lloyd 💍 1864/8320	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	21 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 year 18 years	At the residence of Elizabeth Lloyd Bridge St. Nelson	700	Elizabeth Lloyd mother	12 Dec.	Rev. Edward Thomas
85	15 December 1864	Walter Hippolyte Silliet Mary Ann Hanford Johnston	Walter Hippolyte Pilliet Mary Ann Hansford Johnston 💍 1864/7954	Bachelor Spinster	Resident Magist [UNCLEAR] Hawlock	28 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 5 years	at the office of the Registrar of marriages Government buildings Nelson	779	David Johnston Father	15 Dec.	The Registrar of marriages Nelson
86	21 December 1864	John McCulloch Heurietta Robertson	John McCulloch Henrietta Robertson 💍 1864/7936	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 11 months	at the Presbyterian Church Nile St	772		21 Dec	Rev. Patrick Calder
87	24 December 1864	Edward Gill Mary Scadden	Edward Gill Mary Scadden 💍 1865/6869	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	20 20	Suburban North City of Nelson	11 years 12 months	at Christ Church Nelson	776	Henry Gill Father Richard Scadden Father	Certificate not yet issued
88	29 December 1864	Thomas Shea Mary Mahony	Thomas Shea Mary Mahony 💍 1865/6776	Widower Spinster	Labourer	28 16	Waimea South Waimea West	5 years 5 weeks	At the Catholic Church in Nelson	910	Declaration no person in N. Z. having authority to consent	29th Decr	Rev. Pierre Marie Michele

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).