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 332

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1867

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
92	3 December 1867	Henry Hobson Sharp Mary Ann Burfield Galland	Henry Hobson Sharp Mary Ann Barfield Galland 💍 1867/6688	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	30 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 years 1 year	At the Wesleyan Parsonage, Hardy St. Nelson	797		20 December 1867	The Revd. John Crump.
93	3 December 1867	Frederick Last Mary Ann Sharpe	Frederick Last Mary Ann Sharpe 💍 1867/6793	Widower Spinster	Dentist	28 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 9 years	At Christ Church Nelson	832		3 December 1867	Revd. George H. Johnstone
94	6 December 1867	Joseph Webley the younger Hellen White	Joseph Webley Hellen White 💍 1867/6712	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	25 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	10 years 19 years	At the residence of William Henry West near Shelbourne St. Nelson	805	Joseph White, Father	6 December 1867	Revd. John Davis
95	13 December 1867	William Edwards Harriet York	William Edwards Harriet Tork 💍 1867/6814	Widower Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Stoke City of Nelson	4 years 10 years	At the Protestant Episcopalian Church Richmond	839		13 December 1867	Revd. W. David, Robt. Lewis
96	16 December 1867	Henry Hidson Frederica Haase	Henry Hudson Frederica Haase 💍 1867/4190	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	21 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	13 years 8 years	At the residence of John Ludwig Haase, carpenter, Waimea Street	796	John Ludwig Haase, Father	16 December 1867	Revd. John Crump.
97	16 December 1867	Alfred Bruce Louisa Pope	Alfred Bruce Louisa Pope 💍 1867/6655	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 years 1 year	At the residence of Henry White, mariner, Haven road	784		16 December 1867	Revd. Patk. Calder
98	19 December 1867	James Woolley Sarah Fletcher	James Woolley Sarah Fletcher 💍 1868/8078	Bachelor Spinster	Custom ho: officer	46 46	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 years 9 days	At Christ Church Nelson		no person having authority		Revd. Geo. Henry Johnstone
99	23 December 1867	Adolphus Midwinter Mary Elizabeth Edwards	Adolphus Midwinter Mary Elizabeth Edwards 💍 1867/6796	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 months 3 months	At Christ Church Nelson	833		23 December 1867	Revd. Geo. Henry Johnstone
100	24 December 1867	Charles Kidson Elina Newport	Charles Kidson Eliza Newport 💍 1867/6844	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	23 years 21 years	At the residence of John Kidson near Russell St. Nelson	849		24 December 1867	Revd. Edward Thomas
101	24 December 1867	John Alldridge Mary Maria Walker	John Alldridge Mary Maria Walker 💍 1867/6817	Bachelor Spinster	Store man	22 19	City of Nelson Richmond	10 years 12 years	At the Protestant Episcopalian Church Stoke	846	John Walker, Father	24 December 1867	Revd. W. David, Robt. Lewis
102	27 December 1867	George Cameron Elizabeth Sheppard	George Cameron Elizabeth Shephard 💍 1867/6661	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 17	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 weeks 12 years	At the residence of John Sheppard, store cutter, Waimea road	786	John Sheppard, Father	27 December 1867	Revd. Patk. Calder
103	27 December 1867	James Branford Sarah Ann Hinton	James Branford Sarah Ann Hinton 💍 1867/6658	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	21 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	12 weeks 3 months	At the residence of Alexander Hart, mariner, Beachville, Haven road	785	Declaration	27 December 1867	Revd. Patk. Calder
104	28 December 1867	Joseph Clements Sarah Newton	Joseph Clements Sarah Newton 💍 1867/6847	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 27	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 weeks 1 month	At the residence of said Joseph Clements, Vanguard St. North	850	No person having authority	28 December 1867	Revd. Edw. Thomas
105	28 December 1867	Henry Caudie Wilson Mary Bird	Henry Condie Wilson Mary Bird 💍 1868/8075	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	31 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 19 years	At Christ Church Nelson	1133	Ann Bird, mother	28 December 1867	Revd. Richd. Joshua Thorpe
106	30 December 1867	Dennis Allen Mary Ann Halliday	Denis Allen Mary Ann Halliday 💍 1868/7895	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 years 6 months	At the residence of Frederick Akershaw, mariner, Haven rd. Nelson	1132	Declaration, No person having authority	30 December 1867	Revd. Patk. 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 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).