Intentions to Marry, 1867

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840379, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 327

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1867 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

7 June 1867

Thomas Warnock
Selina Lines

Thomas Warnock
Selina Lines
💍 1867/6811

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Hope
Hope

1 year
10 years

at the protestant Episcopalian Church, Richmond

838

7 June 1867

Rev. W.R.D. Lewis

No	51
Date of Notice	7 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Warnock	Selina Lines
	💍 1867/6811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hope	Hope
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	at the protestant Episcopalian Church, Richmond
Folio	838
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.R.D. Lewis

14 June 1867

Hugh Parker
Louisa Salter

Hugh Parker
Louisa Salter
💍 1867/6670

Widower
Widow

Labourer

34
32

Stoke
Stoke

24 years
3 weeks

at the residence of Hugh Parker labourer, Stoke

790

14 June 1867

Rev. John Crump

No	52
Date of Notice	14 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Parker	Louisa Salter
	💍 1867/6670
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Stoke
Length of Residence	24 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	at the residence of Hugh Parker labourer, Stoke
Folio	790
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Crump

19 June 1867

Walter Thomas Good
Frances Leaper

Walter Thomas Gow
Frances Leaper
💍 1867/6616

Bachelor
Widow

Builder

29
29

City of Nelson
City of Nelson

10 years
12 years

at the residence of Frances Leaper, Shelbourne St., Nelson

771

19 June 1867

Rev. Patrick Calder

No	53
Date of Notice	19 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Good	Frances Leaper
BDM Match (94%)	Walter Thomas Gow	Frances Leaper
	💍 1867/6616
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Builder
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Frances Leaper, Shelbourne St., Nelson
Folio	771
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Calder

19 June 1867

Thomas Albert Humphreys Snook
Elizabeth Humphreys

Thomas Albert Humphreys Snook
Elizabeth Humphreys
💍 1867/6865

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

25
27

City of Nelson
Waimea East

3 years
10 years

at the residence of Edwin Humphreys farmer, Waimea East

856

19 June 1867

Rev. Robt. L. Vickers

No	54
Date of Notice	19 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Albert Humphreys Snook	Elizabeth Humphreys
	💍 1867/6865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	Waimea East
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Edwin Humphreys farmer, Waimea East
Folio	856
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. L. Vickers

25 June 1867

Edward Richard William Jewell
Anne Henderson Fawcett

Edwin Richard Wm Jewell
Ann Henderson Fawcett
💍 1867/6622

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

26
23

S.S. Phoebe
City of Nelson

7 years
23 years

at the residence of Richard Loadby, Bridge St., Nelson

773

25 June 1867

Rev. Patrick Calder

No	55
Date of Notice	25 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Richard William Jewell	Anne Henderson Fawcett
BDM Match (84%)	Edwin Richard Wm Jewell	Ann Henderson Fawcett
	💍 1867/6622
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	S.S. Phoebe	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	7 years	23 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Richard Loadby, Bridge St., Nelson
Folio	773
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Calder

26 June 1867

Arthur Henry Fiven
Margaret Hickey

Arthur Henry Fiven
Margaret Hickey
💍 1867/6730

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom

25
19

Suburban South
Suburban South

4 years
3 years

at the Catholic Church, Nelson

811

Margaret Hickey, Mother

26 June 1867

Rev. Anth. Marie Garin

No	56
Date of Notice	26 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Fiven	Margaret Hickey
	💍 1867/6730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Suburban South	Suburban South
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	at the Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	811
Consent	Margaret Hickey, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 June 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. Anth. Marie Garin

27 June 1867

Alexander Fernon
Emma Northwood

Alexander Fernon
Emma Northwood
💍 1867/6619

Bachelor
Widow

Steward S.S. Storm bird

34
39

City of Nelson
City of Nelson

3 months
3 days

at the residence of The Rev. P. Calder, The manse, Nelson

772

27 June 1867

Rev. Patrick Calder

No	57
Date of Notice	27 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Fernon	Emma Northwood
	💍 1867/6619
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Steward S.S. Storm bird
Age	34	39
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	City of Nelson
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	at the residence of The Rev. P. Calder, The manse, Nelson
Folio	772
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Calder

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).