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 259

District of Nelson Quarter ending Oct - Dec

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
59	3 October 1865	Richard Killen Mary Carty	Richard Killen Mary Carthy 💍 1865/6698	Bachelor Spinster	Digger	27 27	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 days 7 days	At the Catholic Church in Nelson	883		3 Oct 1865	Rev Aut: Marie Garin
60	12 October 1865	Henry Burch Susanna Elimabeth Gandy	Henry Burch Susanna Elizabeth Gandy 💍 1865/6815	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Electro plater	25 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 years 6 years	At the residence of George Jones Brook St: Nelson	925		12 Oct	Rev: John Davis
61	14 October 1865	William Chivers Wilkins Eliza Wells	William Chevus Wilkins Eliza Wells 💍 1865/6761	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger Ironmonger	24 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 1 month	At the residence of William Chivers Wilkins Hardy Street Nelson	905		31 Oct	Rev: John Davis
62	27 October 1865	Charles Woolcock Mary Jane Lovell	Charles Woolcock Mary Jane Lovell 💍 1865/6860	Widower Spinster	Farmer	37 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 months 8 months	At the Presbyterian Church in Nelson	939	Benjamin Lovell FATHER	27 Oct	Rev: Patrick Calder
63	31 October 1865	Florenze Basile Joseph Sarah Ann Grooby	Florenze Bazile Joseph Sarah Ann Grooby 💍 1865/6818 Joseph Graves Sarah Ann Grooby 💍 1865/6665	Bachelor Spinster	Tobacconist Tobacconist	23 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 years 3 days	At the residence of Florenze Basile Joseph Nile Street West	926	John Grooby FATHER	31 Oct	Rev: John Davis
64	8 November 1865	Henry Webley Mary Lindsay	Henry Webley Mary Lindsay 💍 1865/6824 Duncan Beaton Mary Lindsay 💍 1865/9121	Bachelor Spinster	Shoe maker Shoe maker	22 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 years 21 years	At the residence of James Webley Brook Street Nelson	927		8 Nov	Rev: John Davis
65	22 November 1865	George Vance Shannon Emily Jane Hewitt	George Bruce Shannon Emily Jane Hewitt 💍 1865/6896	Bachelor Spinster	General merchant	23 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 5 months	At Christ Church Nelson	951		22 Nov	Rev: Geo: Henry Johnstone
66	29 November 1865	John Sitter Lucy Roil	John Titter Lucy Roil 💍 1865/6806	Bachelor Spinster	Brick maker Farmer	22 21	City of Nelson Suburban South	2 years 21 years	At the residence of Walter Roil Suburban South	922		29 Nov	Rev: Edward Thomas
67	1 December 1865	Charles Brighten Mary Stite	Charles Brighton Mary Kite 💍 1865/6809	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Jun keeper	31 17	City of Nelson Waimea East	18 months 17 years	At the residence of Lucy Krite Richmond	923	Lucy Krite MOTHER	1 Decemb	Rev: Edward Thomas
68	8 December 1865	Samuel Alexander Leech Janet Brown	Samuel Alexander Tuck Janet Brown 💍 1865/6866	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner Mariner	29 25	Russell St: Nelson Stanley Crescent Nelson	8 years 10 years	At the Presbyterian Church in Nelson			8 Decem	Rev: Patrick Calder
69	11 December 1865	Henry Hamilton Sarah Ann Harwood	Henry Hamilton Sarah Ann Harwood 💍 1865/6863	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	24 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 years 22 years	At the Presbyterian Church in Nelson	940		11 Decemb	Rev: Patrick Calder
70	15 December 1865	Samuel Alexander Leech Janet Brown	Samuel Alexander Tuck Janet Brown 💍 1865/6866	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner Mariner	29 25	Russell St: Nelson Stanley Crescent Nelson	8 years 10 years	At the residence of John Brown Hanley Crescent	941		15 Decemb	Rev: Patrick Calder
71	18 December 1865	William Arthur White Anne Allen	William Arthur White Annie Allen 💍 1865/6767	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	35 41	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 months 2 years	At the residence of William Arthur White Haven Road Nelson	907		18 Decemb	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).