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 213

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 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
705	14 Aug 1864	William Charles Nation Sarah Ann Webley	William Charles Nation Sarah Ann Webley 💍 1864/8335	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	24 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 years 6 years	At the residence of Joseph Webley, Tweed manufacturer, Brook St. Nelson	705	Joseph Webley, father	11 Aug 1864	Rev. William Moore Biss
728	12 July 1864	John Frederick Daniel Bockmann Elizabeth Bobow	John Frederick Daniel Bockman Margretha Fredericka Elisabeth Bobow 💍 1864/8112	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Blacksmith	29 33	Waimea East Waimea East	6 days 6 days	At the residence of Henry Lange, Waimea East	748		20 July 1864	Rev. John William Christopher Heine
735	15 July 1864	Henry Henderson Mary Downey	Henry Henderson Mary Downey 💍 1864/8088	Bachelor Widow	Miner	33 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 months 2 months	At Christ-church Nelson	735		18 July 1864	Rev. George Henry Johnstone
737	22 July 1864	Henry Charles Holland Hastings Louisa Elliott	Henry Charles Holland Hastings Louisa Elliott 💍 1864/8091	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	28 17	City of Nelson Richmond	2 weeks 2 weeks	At Christ-church Nelson	737	[UNCLEAR] person in N.Z. having authority to consent	19 July 1864	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone
739	9 Aug 1864	Francis Crosling Margaret McClintock Greer	Francis Crosling Margaret McClintock Greer 💍 1864/8094	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	22 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 months 2 weeks	At Christ-church Nelson	739		9 Aug 1864	Rev. George Henry Johnstone
743	16 Aug 1864	Frederick David Greenwood Clara Maria Martin	Frederick Dow Greenwood Clara Maria Martin 💍 1864/8100	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 32	City of Nelson Stoke	3 days 2 years	At Christ-church Nelson	743		5 Sept. 1864	The Lord Bishop of Nelson
764	3 Aug 1864	John Springborg Ellen Connell	John Spingborg Ellen Connell 💍 1864/7918	Bachelor Spinster	Boarding house keeper	29 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 months 18 years	At the residence of John Springborg, Trafalgar Square	764	[UNCLEAR] No person in N.Z. having authority to consent	27 July 1864	Rev. Patrick Calder
765	27 July 1864	Nehemiah McRae Janet Marshall Aitken	Nehemiah McRae Janet Marshall Aiken 💍 1864/4080	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	25 17	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 days 1 year	At the residence of George Aitken, Waimea Road	765	George Aitken, father	26 July 1864	Rev. Patrick Calder
766	9 Aug 1864	John Disher Leah Lines	John Disher Leah Lines 💍 1864/7921	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 24	City of Nelson Waimea East	10 years 17 years	At the Trafalgar Hotel Bridge St. Nelson	766		9 Aug 1864	Rev. Patrick Calder
777	23 July 1864	Charles Sullivan Mary O'Leary	Charles O'Sullivan Mary O'Leary 💍 1864/7948	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 25	Waimea East Waimea East	3 weeks 6 years	At the Catholic Church in Nelson	777		6 Aug 1864	Rev. Jacques Marie Tressalet
777	26 July 1864	Joseph Herbert Bisley Caroline Karshen	Joseph Herbert Bisley Caroline Karsten 💍 1864/8043	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	28 27	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 20 years	At the residence of Matthew Campbell, Miller, Hardy Street Nelson	777		23 July 1864	Rev. William Kirk
778	9 Aug 1864	John Johnston Jane Harriett Ball	John Johnson Jane Harriett Ball 💍 1864/8046	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	24 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 years 6 years	At the residence of William Ball, carpenter, Washington Road	778	William Ball	4 Aug 1864	Rev. William Kirk
790	19 July 1864	John Gaukrodger Ann Honeyman	John Gaukrodger Ann Honeyman 💍 1864/7987	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 18	Waimea South Waimea West	20 years 8 years	At the Protestant Episcopalian Church Spring Grove	790	Ann Drew, Mother	18 July 1864	The Lord Bishop of Nelson

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).