Intentions to Marry, 1866

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840378, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 313

District of Nelson Quarter ending Jul - Sep

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
51	2 July 1866	George Cook Susan Olina Matthews	George Cook Susan Eliza Matthews 💍 1866/4167	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	28 23	City of Nelson Ditto	2 years 23 years	at Christ church Nelson	885		2 July 1866	Rev. Geo: H Johnstone
52	3 July 1866	Thomas Nelson Neal Selina Busch	Thomas Nelson Neal Selina Busch 💍 1866/6850	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 17	Waimea East Hope Waimea East	3 days 17 years	at the residence of william Neal Waimea East	843	Hans Heirrich Busch, father	3 July 1866	Rev. Edw. Thomas
53	3 July 1866	John Turner Emily Puff	John Turner Emily Ruff 💍 1866/7036 John Turner Harriet Gunn 💍 1867/7786	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 17	City of Nelson City of Nelson	8 years 6 years	at the residence of John Turner belonging to Thos: Freeman oulder trussell St: Nelson	909	Elizabeth Flower, mother	3 July 1866	Rev. ? William Kirk
54	14 July 1866	Joseph William Crocker Mary Ann Ranger	Joseph William Crocker Mary Ann Ranger 💍 1866/6913	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 20	Waimea East Ditto	3 days 20 years	at the residence of James Ranger Richmond	864	James Ranger, father	14 July 1866	Rev. John Davis
55	24 July 1866	John Riddel Elizabeth Hunt	John Riddell Elizabeth Hunt 💍 1866/7039	Widower Spinster	Compositor	49 42	City of Nelson Ditto	9 months 2 years	at the residence of Margarity Heraman Haven road Nelson	910		[UNCLEAR]	Rev. ? William Kirk
56	26 July 1866	John McKenzie Kate Canning	John McKenzie Kate Canning 💍 1866/6925	Bachelor Spinster	Ship's Steward	26 25	City of Nelson Ditto	3 years 1 week	at the Catholic Church Nelson	868		26 July 1866	Rev. Ant. M. Garin
57	28 July 1866	Thomas Samuel Sidd Louisa Emma Midgley	Thomas Samuel Tidd Louisa Emma Midgley 💍 1866/6916	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 20	Fox Hill Ditto	23 years 7 years	at the residence of Henry Midgley, carpenter Fox Hill	865	Henry Midgley, father	28 July 1866	Rev. John Davis
58	30 July 1866	Alfred Rullaud Edwards Mary Turner	Alfred Rutland Edwards Mary Turner 💍 1866/6973	Bachelor Spinster	farmer	22 25	Suburban North City of Nelson	1 year 5 years	at Christ church Nelson	887		30 July 1866	Rev. Geo: H Johnstone
59	3 August 1866	Joseph Hoult Ann Norah Griffin	Joseph Hoult Ann Norah Griffin 💍 1866/6928	Widower Spinster	Farmer	30 22	Wakefield City of Nelson	20 years 4 years	at the Catholic Church Nelson	869		3 August 1866	Rev. Ant. M. Garin
60	3 August 1866	William Galbraith Isabella Smith	William Galbraith Isabella Smith 💍 1866/4351	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker	38 32	Richmond City of Nelson	1 year 3 years	at the residence of Frank Trask, Butcher Selwyn pl: Nelson	858		3 August 1866	Rev. Patrick Calder
61	13 August 1866	Alfred Benjamin Jackson Susan Simson	Alfred Benjamin Jackson Susan Simson 💍 1866/7096	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	21 22	City of Nelson Ditto	21 years 5 years	At the residence of Emanuel Ambrose Simson, Carpenter Brook St	931		13 August 1866	Rev: Edward Thomas.
62	13 August 1866	William James Scott Agnes Catherine Cadell	William James Scott Agnes Catharine Cadell 💍 1866/6898	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 19	City of Nelson Ditto	2 years 7 years	at the residence of Philip Edward Cadell, Brewer Beachville Nelson	859	Philip Edw. Cadell, father	13 August 1866	Rev. Patrick Calder
63	18 August 1866	Thomas Carter Katherine Schroder	Thomas Carter Catherine Schroder 💍 1866/6976	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep owner	38 23	Lake Hillersden now City of Nelson Waimea East	11 days 10 years	at Christ church Nelson	888		18 August 1866	Rev. Geo: H 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 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).