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 255

District of Nelson Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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
19	1 April 1865	William Page Caroline Louisa Henrietta Manssen	William Page Caroline Louisa Henrietta Manssen 💍 1865/6881	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	24 23	Suburban North Suburban North	13 years 13 years	At the lower School house Suburban Nth	946		17 April 1865	Rev. Geo: Henry Johnstone
20	8 April 1865	William Fletcher Harriet Dickens	William Fletcher Nanett Dickens 💍 1865/6833	Bachelor Spinster	Store Keeper	34 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 weeks 3 weeks	At the residence of George Dickens Paper hanger, Bridge Street Nelson	930		8 April 1865	Rev. Patrick Calder
21	18 April 1865	William Thomas Buskin Mary Jane Williams	William T Jenkin Mary Jane Williams 💍 1865/6719	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	27 26	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 months 1 year	At the residence of the Rev: William Kirk Wesleyan minister Hardy Street	891	Declaration "no person in N.Z. having authority to consent"	15 April 1865	Rev. Geo: Henry Johnstone
22	2 May 1865	George Verry Martha Gibbs	George Verry Martha Gibbs 💍 1865/6791	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 18	Waimea South Waimea South	20 years 12 years	At the residence of The Rev. Edw. Thomas Manuka Street Nelson	917	James Gibbs, Father	2 May 1865	Rev. Edward Thomas
23	8 May 1865	William Wells Jessie Newport	William Wells Jessie Newport 💍 1865/6845	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 25	Waimea South Appleby	11 years 13 years	At the residence of Joseph Newport Appleby	934		23 May 1865	Rev. Patrick Calder
24	8 May 1865	John Daly Margaret Disher	John Daly Margaret Disher 💍 1865/6836	Bachelor Spinster	Flockowner	33 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 days 3 years	At the "Trafalgar Hotel" Trafalgar Street Nelson	931		8 May 1865	Rev Patrick Calder
25	10 May 1865	Robert Donald Annie Phillips	Robert Donald Annie Philipps 💍 1865/6839 Robert Donald Apolona Isabella Smith 💍 1865/6359	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	45 20	Tadmor Hill Tadmor Hill	3 years 2 years	At the Presbyterian Church in Nelson	932	Henry Phillips Father	10 May 1865	Rev. Patrick Calder
26	12 May 1865	Robert Gilchrist Euphemia Graham	Robert Gilchrist Euphemia Graham 💍 1865/6842	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	32 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 weeks 3 days	At the Manse Presbyterian Church Nelson	933		12 May 1865	Rev. Patrick Calder
27	18 May 1865	William Astle Elizabeth Ruff	William Astle Elizabeth Ruff 💍 1865/6722	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	21 years 5 years	At the residence of William Astle Carpenter, Collingwood St. Nelson	891		18 May 1865	Rev. William Kirk
28	19 May 1865	Arthur John Bradey Mary Jane Jordan	Arthur John Bradley Mary Jane Jordon 💍 1865/6725	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 26	Suburban South Suburban South	13 years 2 weeks	At the Wesleyan Chapel Suburban South	893		19 May 1865	Rev. William Kirk
29	25 May 1865	Henry Thomas Hall Margaret Elizabeth Young	Henry Thomas Hall Margaret Elizabeth Young 💍 1865/6794	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 years 20 years	At the residence of Hugh Young Carpenter Tasman St. Nelson	918	Hugh Young Father	25 May 1865	Rev. Edward Thomas
30	27 May 1865	Benjamin Primmer Sarah Tasker	Benjamin Primmer Sarah Tasker 💍 1865/6728	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Richmond Richmond	15 years 4 years	At the residence of Joseph Primmer Farmer Richmond	894		27 May 1865	Rev. William Kirk
31	27 May 1865	Alfred Henry Brind Mary Harriett Sophia Weeden	Alfred Henry Brind Mary Harriet Sophia Weeden 💍 1865/6731	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	22 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 month 1 month	At the Wesleyan Chapel Hardy Street Nelson	895	William Weeden Father	29 May 1865	Rev. William Kirk

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

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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 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).