Intentions to Marry, 1868

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840380, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 351

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1868 Registrar John Poynter

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
55	26 May 1868	Thomas Wade Jane Boyd	Thomas Wade Jane Boyd 💍 1868/7907	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	39 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	9 months 2 years	at the residence of Thomas Wade Collingwood Street	1138		26 May 1868	Rev. Patrick Calder
56	26 May 1868	James Graham Emily Bullard	James Graham Emily Bulland 💍 1868/7913	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	22 years 3 years	At the residence of Henry Bullard Russell Street	1140	Henry Bullard Father	26 May 1868	Rev. John Crump
57	29 May 1868	William Bird Frances Garnett	William Bird Frances Garnett 💍 1868/8108	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	28 24	Spring Grove Spring Grove	1 year 24 years	At Christ church Nelson	1207		29 May 1868	Rev. John Crump
58	30 May 1868	Peter Paul Charles Beckman Elizabeth Havlind	Peter Paul Charles Beckman Elizabeth Havlind 💍 1868/7982	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	25 25	Maitai Maitai	8 years 1 week	At the residence of Frederick Henry Beckman Farmer Maitai	68/1163		30 May 1868	Rev. John Crump
59	1 June 1868	Urease MacKenzie Jeanie Hogg Purves	Ereas Mackenzie Jeanie Hogg Purvis 💍 1868/7910	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	26 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 months 12 months	At the Manse of the Presbyterian Church Nelson	1139		1 June 1868	Rev. Patrick Calder
60	3 June 1868	Robert MacKay Elizabeth Ann Louisa Budge	Robert Mackay Elizabeth Ann Louisa Budge 💍 1868/8111	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	30 25	Wangamoa City of Nelson	4 years 4 years	At Christ church Nelson	1208		3 June 1868	Rev. Geo. H. Johnstone
61	3 June 1868	John Clark Sarah Jessop	John Clark Sarah Jessop 💍 1868/8171	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	37 33	Spring Grove Spring Grove	18 months 25 years	At the residence of John Clark Carpenter Spring Grove	1229		3 June 1868	Rev. Edw. Thomas
62	5 June 1868	Henry Harwood Mercy Ann Lovell	Henry Harwood Mercy Ann Lovell 💍 1868/8027	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 3 days	At the residence of John Webley Carpenter Brook Street	1179		5 June 1868	Rev. John Davis
63	6 June 1868	Edwin Arthur Lammas Mary Oram Bartlett	Edwin Arthur Lammas Mary Oram Bartlett 💍 1868/8033	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	25 22	Richmond Richmond	8 years 22 years	At the residence of Mary Bartlett Widow Richmond	1181		6 June 1868	Rev. John Davis
64	6 June 1868	James Best Catherine Mary Burnett	James Best Catherine Mary Burnett 💍 1868/7988	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 20	Stoke Stoke	22 years 20 years	At the residence of Richard Burnett Farmer Stoke	1165	Richard Burnett Father	6 June 1868	Rev. John Crump
65	6 June 1868	John William Harvey Alice Hannah Burnett	John William Harvey Alice Hannah Burnett 💍 1868/7985	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 18	Stoke Stoke	1 year 18 years	At the residence of Richard Burnett Farmer Stoke	1164	Richard Burnett Father	6 June 1868	Rev. John Crump.
66	8 June 1868	Charles Scott Mary Ann Jew	Charles Scott Mary Ann Tew 💍 1868/4502	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler maker	31 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 11 years	At the Catholic Church in Nelson	1189		8 June 1868	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
67	8 June 1868	Henry Augustus Freeman Hannah Cross	Henry Augustus Freeman Hannah Cross 💍 1868/8114	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	21 years 7 years	At Christ Church Nelson	1209		8 June 1868	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 1899. 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).