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 215

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
64	3 October 1864	George North Mary Hart	George North Mary Hart 💍 1864/8308	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Richmond Richmond	12 years 5 years	as the residence of Richard Heart Richmond	696		3 October 1864	Rev Edward Thomas
65	5 October 1864	John Jones Hornby Louisa Scudder	John Jones Hornby Louisa Scudder 💍 1864/4968	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	48 46	City of Nelson City of Nelson	12 months 12 months	at the residence The Rev Will Kirk Washington Valley	723		5 October 1864	Rev William Kirk
66	5 October 1864	William Joshua Hargreaves Dorothy Ann Tiller	William Joshua Hargreaves Dorothy Ann Tiller 💍 1864/8311	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	19 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	19 years 1 year	at the residence of Henry Hargreaves Bridge St. Nelson	697	Henry Hargreaves Father City of Nelson	5 October 1864	Rev Edward Thomas
67	8 October 1864	Duncan Curby Sarah Oram Bartlett	Duncan Corby Sarah Oram Barttett 💍 1864/8060	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	33 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 months 20 years	at the residence of John Oram Wainia cash corporater	724		8 October 1864	Rev William Kirk
68	12 October 1864	August Fredrich Augustus Christian Schwass Johanna Wilhelmina Nasharina Eberhardt	August Frederick Gustav Christian Schwass Johanna Wilhelmine Cathrina Eberhard 💍 1864/8115	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	20 15	Wainea West Waimea West	2 years 5 years	the residence of Christopher Frederick Christian Frederick Eberhardt Farmer Waimea West	949	John Schwass Christopher Christian Frederick Eberhardt father	13 October 1864	Rev Jn° M°Int: Heine
69	14 October 1864	George Martin Mary O Connor	George Rice Mary Connor 💍 1864/7425	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 months 3 months	At the Catholic Church Nelson	774		14 October 1864	Revr Pierre Marie Michel
70	25 October 1864	James Smith Margaret Fuller	James Smith Margaret Fuller 💍 1864/7927	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	9 years 2 years	At the residence of George Herwin Caster Brook St. valley	768		25 October 1864	Rev Patrick Calder
71	31 October 1864	Richard Sellers Livingstone Jane Meade	Richard Sellers Livingstone Jane Meade 💍 1864/7924	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	29 36	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 months 11 years	as the residence of Jane Meade widow Hardy St. Nelson	767		31 October 1864	Rev Patrick Calder
72	2 November 1864	William Myers Dealy Jane Ann Braithwaite	William Byers Sealy Jane Ann Braithwaite 💍 1864/8103	Widower Spinster	Surgeon	42 25	City of Nelson Suburban North	5 years 3 years	at the upper School room Suburban North	745		2 November 1864	Rev Geo: Henry Johnstone
73	8 November 1864	Edward Gill Mary Snowden	Edward Gill Mary Scadden 💍 1865/6869	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 20	Suburban North City of Nelson	11 years 12 months	At Christchurch Nelson				Certificate not issued (vide &187)
74	8 November 1864	James William Gibbs Mary Ann Gibbs	James William Eves Mary Ann Gibbs 💍 1864/8314	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	20 14	Wainua South Wainia South	18 years 14 years	at the residence of William Eved The Revd Edw Thomas Manuka in Nelson	698	James Gibbs Father Manuka in Nelson	8 November 1864	Rev Edward Thomas
75	12 November 1864	Edward Roughead Williams Rosanna Wylie	Edward Rowland William Rosanna Wylie 💍 1864/8317	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	31 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 days 7 days	the residence of the Revd Edw Thomas Manukau St. Nelson	699	Declaration No person in N.Z having authority to consent	12 November 1864	Rev Edward Thomas
76	12 November 1864	James Franklyn Katherine Shatford	James Franklyn Kitty Stratford 💍 1864/8064	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	22 21	City of Nelson Naimea West	5 years 15 years	at the residence of George Sheppard Hafalgar St. Nelson	725		12 November 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).