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 211

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 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
23	1 April 1864	Joseph Walking Hannah King	Joseph Skalleling Hannah King 💍 1864/8302	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	34 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 years 15 years	at the residence of James King, Settler Coauguard Street	694		1 April 1864	Rev Edward Thomas
24	8 April 1864	Samuel Fittall Ellen Maria Hooper	Samuel Fittall Ellen Maria Hooper 💍 1864/8332	Bachelor Spinster	Decorator	27 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	9 months 3 years	At the residence of Edwin Hooper Hardy Street	704	Edwin Hooper Father	16 May 1864	Rev William Moore Biss
25	8 April 1864	Joseph Gilson Mary Ann Francis	Joseph Gilson Mary Ann Francis 💍 1864/8028	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	35 30	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 years 6 months	At the residence of Joseph Gilson, Carter Bridge Street	758		23 April 1864	Rev. William Kirk
26	11 April 1864	William Thomas Pearse Charlotte Whibby	William Thomas Kearns Charlotte Whibby 💍 1864/3608	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 17	Richmond Richmond	18 years 17 years	At Christ Church Nelson	732	Edward Whibby Father	19 April 1864	Rev George Henry Johnstone
27	12 April 1864	John William Young Lucretia Coleman	John Wm Young Lucretia Coleman 💍 1864/7903	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	21 years 4 years	At the residence of John Braddock Druggist Waimea Street	759	Richard Coleman Father	12 April 1864	Rev Patrick Calder
28	16 April 1864	George Bonnington Isabella Kirk	George Bonnington Isabella Kirk 💍 1864/8082	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	27 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 4 years	At Christ Church Nelson	733		20 April 1864	Rev George Henry Johnstone
29	16 April 1864	Joseph Bonnington Mary Nixon	Joseph Bonnington Mary Nixon 💍 1864/8079 James Downs Mary Nixon 💍 1864/5771	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	25 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 weeks 20 years	At Christ Church Nelson	731	John Nixon Father	16 April 1864	Rev George Henry Johnstone
30	25 April 1864	Henry Hece Ellen Shannon	Henry Heec Ellen Shannon 💍 1864/7981	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 months 9 years	at the residence of Michael Shannon Farmer Nile Street	788	Michael Shannon Father	25 April 1864	Rev Edward Thomas
31	25 April 1864	Edward Pearcy Sarah Jane Dellow	Edward Pearcy Sarah Jane Dellon 💍 1864/8031	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	24 16	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 16 years	at the residence of John Deflour Russell Street	713	Ann Dellow Mother	10 May 1864	Rev. William Kirk
32	10 May 1864	Daniel Talbot Jane Amelia Allen	Daniel Talbot Jane Amelia Allen 💍 1864/4125	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	14 days 14 days		712		10 May 1864	Rev. William Kirk
33	12 May 1864	James Simpson Charlotte O'Brien	James Simpson Charlotte O'Brian 💍 1864/7909 James Simpson Mary Ann Simpson 💍 1865/4160	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	15 months 7 years	At the residence of Robert Simpson Blacksmith Washington Valley	761		31 May 1864	Rev? Patrick Calder
34	14 May 1864	Henry Warren Sarah Ann Coleman	Henry Warren Sarah Anne Coleman 💍 1864/8034	Bachelor Widow	Butcher	31 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	9 months 7 years	at the residence of William Ball Carpenter Washington Valley	714		14 May 1864	Rev. 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).