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 209

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 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
1	2 January 1864	Edward Atherton Lingard Eleanor Connell	Edward Atherton Lingard Eleanor Connell 💍 1864/3943	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	24 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 6 years	at Christ church Nelson	729		12 January 1864	The Bishop of Nelson
2	18 December 1863	Charles Joseph Bacek Christiana Jessop	Charles Joseph Balck Christianna Jessop 💍 1864/8326	Bachelor Widow		28 25	Stoke City of Nelson	6 months 3 months	At the Catholic Church Nelson	702		5 January 1864	The Revd. William M. Biss
3	9 January 1864	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	12 months 2 years	At the residence of William Frazer Shelburne Nr. Nelson	751	Wm. Haimata Frazer Father	19 January 1864	The Revd. Patrick Calder
4	18 January 1864	James Batchelor Lucy Jennings	James Batchelor Lucy Jennings 💍 1864/8338	Bachelor Spinster	Shoe maker	27 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	22 years 12 years	At the residence of James Batchelor Nile Street West	706	William Jennings Father	18 January 1864	the Revd. William Kirk
5	18 January 1864	Henry Buckeridge Matilda Buseton	Henry Buckeridge Matilda Buxton 💍 1864/7882	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	28 18	City of Nelson Stoke	5 years 8 years	At the residence of Edmund Buseton Stoke	752	Edmund Buston Father	18 January 1864	The Revd. Patrick Calder
6	19 January 1864	John Johnston Fletcher Frances Anne Stamper	John Johnston Fletcher Frances Anne Stamper 💍 1864/8070	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	33 17	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 days 8 years	At Christ church Nelson	728	John Stamper Father	19 January 1864	The Bishop of Nelson.
7	25 January 1864	Thomas Green Leech Elizabeth Hambly Cudlipp	Thomas Green Leech Elizabeth Hambly Cudlipp Score Saunders 💍 1864/3768	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	29 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 years 2 years	At the residence of Thomas Green Leech Collingwood Street	707		5 February 1864	The Revd William Kirk
8	9 February 1864	James Lucre Elizabeth Warner	James Lucue Elizabeth Warner 💍 1864/7885	Bachelor Spinster	Ostler	22 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 22 years	At the Presbyterian Church in Nelson	753		13 February 1864	The Revd. Patrick Calder
9	9 February 1864	Charles McIntyre Fanny Moore											This notice was informally made - and not repeated -
10	10 February 1864	Robert Sibble Elizabeth Sarah Ladd	Robert Tibble Elizabeth Sarah Ladd 💍 1864/8296	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	32 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 years 2 years	At the residence of The Revd. Edward Thomas Baptist minister Manuka Street	692		24 February 1864	The Revd. Edward Thomas
11	10 February 1864	Thomas Edward Harris Florence Elizabeth Nicol	Thomas Edward Harris Florence Elizth Nichol 💍 1864/8022	Bachelor Spinster	Servant	28 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 years 14 years	At the residence of Thos Edward Harris Toi Toi Street	709	James Francis Nicol Father	24 February 1864	The Revd. William Kirk
12	20 February 1864	William Norriss Caroline Tunnicliff	William Norriss Caroline Tunnicliffe 💍 1864/7996	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 23	Wakefield Wakefield	22 years 22 years	At the Protestant Church Spring Grove	793		20 February 1864	The Revd. William Bird
13	20 February 1864	Joe Firth Mary Moore	Joe Firth Mary Moore 💍 1864/8025	Bachelor Spinster	Writing clerk	36 26	City of Nelson City of Nelson	12 months 4 years	At the Wesleyan Chapel Hardy St.	710		5 March 1864	The Revd. William Kirk

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).