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 256

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 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

30 May 1865

John Hodgson
Ann Dixon

John Hodgson
Ann Dixon
💍 1865/6902

Bachelor
Widow

Shoemaker

49
41

Waimea South
Waimea South

10 years
1 year

at the Office of the Registrar of marriages, Nelson

954

30 May 1865

Registrar of marriages

No	32
Date of Notice	30 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hodgson	Ann Dixon
	💍 1865/6902
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	49	41
Dwelling Place	Waimea South	Waimea South
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	at the Office of the Registrar of marriages, Nelson
Folio	954
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Registrar of marriages

2 June 1865

John Spencer
Ann Law

John Spencer
Ann Law
💍 1865/6734

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
30

City of Nelson
City of Nelson

3 years
12 mos

at the residence of Jane Roberts widow, Hardy Street, Nelson

896

2 June 1865

Rev. William Kirk

No	33
Date of Notice	2 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Spencer	Ann Law
	💍 1865/6734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	12 mos
Marriage Place	at the residence of Jane Roberts widow, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	896
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Kirk

7 June 1865

Giovanni Gagliardi
Sarah Edwards

Giovanni Gagliardi
Sarah Edwards
💍 1865/6737

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Keeper

26
18

City of Nelson
City of Nelson

3 years
13 years

at the Wesleyan Chapel, Hardy Street, Nelson

897

Joseph Edwards Father

9 June 1865

Rev. William Kirk

No	34
Date of Notice	7 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Giovanni Gagliardi	Sarah Edwards
	💍 1865/6737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	13 years
Marriage Place	at the Wesleyan Chapel, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	897
Consent	Joseph Edwards Father
Date of Certificate	9 June 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Kirk

13 June 1865

Jabez Hill
Charlotte Rowbotham

Jabez Hill
Charlotte Rowbotham
💍 1865/6887

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
21

Waimea South
Waimea South

18 years
3 years

at Christ church, Nelson

948

13 June 1865

Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone

No	35
Date of Notice	13 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jabez Hill	Charlotte Rowbotham
	💍 1865/6887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Waimea South	Waimea South
Length of Residence	18 years	3 years
Marriage Place	at Christ church, Nelson
Folio	948
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone

17 June 1865

Arthur Robert Dudley
Isabella Kilgour

Auther Robert Dudley
Isobella Kilgour
💍 1865/6797

Bachelor
Spinster

Messenger Bank of N. Zeal

26
29

City of Nelson
City of Nelson

5 years
6 years

at the residence of Arthur Robt Dudley, Collingwood St., Nelson

919

not yet issued

No	36
Date of Notice	17 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Robert Dudley	Isabella Kilgour
BDM Match (92%)	Auther Robert Dudley	Isobella Kilgour
	💍 1865/6797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Messenger Bank of N. Zeal
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Arthur Robt Dudley, Collingwood St., Nelson
Folio	919
Consent
Date of Certificate	not yet issued
Officiating Minister

21 June 1865

Thomas Bell
Sarah Small

Thomas Bell
Sarah Small
💍 1865/6773

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

27
18

Spring Grove
Spring Grove

2 years
13 years

at St Pauls Church, Spring Grove

909

James Small Father

21 June 1865

The Bishop of Nelson

No	37
Date of Notice	21 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bell	Sarah Small
	💍 1865/6773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Spring Grove	Spring Grove
Length of Residence	2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	at St Pauls Church, Spring Grove
Folio	909
Consent	James Small Father
Date of Certificate	21 June 1865
Officiating Minister	The Bishop of Nelson

29 June 1865

William Forbes
Marion Watts

William Forbes
Marion Watts
💍 1865/6890

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

30
18

City of Nelson
City of Nelson

6 weeks
18 years

at Christ church, Nelson

949

John Watts Father

29 June 1865

Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone

No	38
Date of Notice	29 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Forbes	Marion Watts
	💍 1865/6890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	6 weeks	18 years
Marriage Place	at Christ church, Nelson
Folio	949
Consent	John Watts Father
Date of Certificate	29 June 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone

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 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).