1865 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840377, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 254

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1865 Registrar John Poynter

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

153

24 February 1865

John Savage
Harriett Ann Biggs

John Savage
Harriet Ann Biggs
💍 1865/6716

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Shoe maker

24
20

City of Nelson
City of Nelson

3 years
12 years

at the residence of Samuel Biggs shoe maker, Waimea Road

889

Samuel Biggs, Father

24 February 1865

Rev. William Kirk

No	153
Date of Notice	24 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Savage	Harriett Ann Biggs
BDM Match (97%)	John Savage	Harriet Ann Biggs
	💍 1865/6716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Shoe maker
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	12 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Samuel Biggs shoe maker, Waimea Road
Folio	889
Consent	Samuel Biggs, Father
Date of Certificate	24 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Kirk

154

27 February 1865

William Henry Goddard
Emma Hobbs Burt

William Henry Goddard
Emma Hobbs Burt
💍 1865/6788

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

29
24

City of Nelson
City of Nelson

5 years
4 years

at the residence of The Rev. Edw. Thomas, Manuka Street, Nelson

915

27 February 1865

Rev. Edward Thomas

No	154
Date of Notice	27 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Goddard	Emma Hobbs Burt
	💍 1865/6788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of The Rev. Edw. Thomas, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	915
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Thomas

155

1 March 1865

Robert Smith Wallace
Emma Ives

Robert Smith Wallace
Emma Ives
💍 1865/4089

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
18

Waimea South
Waimea South

10 years
14 years

at the residence of The Rev. Edw. Thomas, Manuka Street, Nelson

916

William Ives, Father

1 March 1865

Rev. Edward Thomas

No	155
Date of Notice	1 March 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Smith Wallace	Emma Ives
	💍 1865/4089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Waimea South	Waimea South
Length of Residence	10 years	14 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of The Rev. Edw. Thomas, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	916
Consent	William Ives, Father
Date of Certificate	1 March 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Thomas

156

9 March 1865

Manuel Lourence
Jane Harvey

Manoel Lourenço
Jane Harvey
💍 1865/6878

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

30
23

City of Nelson
City of Nelson

10 days
10 days

at Christ Church, Nelson

945

9 March 1865

Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone

No	156
Date of Notice	9 March 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Manuel Lourence	Jane Harvey
BDM Match (88%)	Manoel Lourenço	Jane Harvey
	💍 1865/6878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	at Christ Church, Nelson
Folio	945
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone

157

15 March 1865

William Miles
Naomi Patching

William Miles
Naomi Patching
💍 1865/4101

Bachelor
Spinster

Stone mason

20
20

City of Nelson
City of Nelson

1 year
1 year

at the residence of Henry Van farmer, St. Vincent Street

65/890

Declaration that no person in N.Z has authority to consent John Patching Father

15 March 1865

Rev. William Kirk

No	157
Date of Notice	15 March 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Miles	Naomi Patching
	💍 1865/4101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stone mason
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	at the residence of Henry Van farmer, St. Vincent Street
Folio	65/890
Consent	Declaration that no person in N.Z has authority to consent John Patching Father
Date of Certificate	15 March 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Kirk

158

31 March 1865

Joseph Busch
Martha Higgs

Joseph Busch
Martha Mary Higgs
💍 1865/6884

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
20

Aniseed Valley
Waimea East

8 years
17 years

at Christ church, Nelson

947

Martha Higgs, Mother

certificate not yet issued

No	158
Date of Notice	31 March 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Busch	Martha Higgs
BDM Match (85%)	Joseph Busch	Martha Mary Higgs
	💍 1865/6884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Aniseed Valley	Waimea East
Length of Residence	8 years	17 years
Marriage Place	at Christ church, Nelson
Folio	947
Consent	Martha Higgs, Mother
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	certificate not yet issued

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).