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

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District of Quarter ending

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
71	1 July 1868	John Valentine Nalder Christiana Catherall	John Valentine Nalder Christina Catherall 💍 1868/8123	Bachelor Spinster	Bank messenger	22 28	City of Nelson City of Nelson	12 years 6 months	At Christ church Nelson	1212		16 July 1868	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone
72	1 July 1868	Joshua Newport Elizabeth Ellen Folglasse	Joshua Newport Elizabeth Ellen Polglase 💍 1868/7991	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 week 10 years	At the residence of Johanna Polglase Brook St. Nelson	1166	Johanna Polglase, mother	1 July 1868	Rev. John Crump
73	3 July 1868	Richard Owens Mary Elizabeth Skinner	Richard Owens Mary Jane Perriam 💍 1868/4252	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	28 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 days 7 days	At the Presbyterian Church in Nelson			2 July 1868	Rev. John Crump
74	6 July 1868	Thomas Dodson Sarah Watts	Thomas Hodson Sarah Watts 💍 1868/8120	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 21	Suburban North City of Nelson	21 years 9 years	as Christ church Nelson	1211	declaration no person in NZ. having authority	2 July 1868	Rev. Parick Calder
75	6 July 1868	Joshua Sigley Helen Susanah Hough	Joshua Sigley Helen Susannah Hough 💍 1868/7916	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith	24 30	City of Nelson City of Nelson	24 years 10 years	At the residence of Robert Burn Trafalgar St. Nelson	1141		22 July 1868	Rev. Geo He Johnstone
76	7 July 1868	Gilbert Erskine Hugh Elliot Bertha Mary Carew Gibson	Gilbert Ezekiel Hugh Elliot Bertha Mary Carlie-Gibson 💍 1868/8117	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	22 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	10 days 9 weeks	At Christ church Nelson	1210		6 July 1868	Rev. Parick Calder
77	9 July 1868	William Milner Ann Dodson Swanson	William Milner Ann Dodson Swanson 💍 1868/8036	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	32 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 years 2 years	At the residence of Ronald Swanson Gaolor Alton St. Nelson	1182		17 July 1868	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone
78	15 July 1868	Hugh Ferguson Mary Ann Clark	Hugh Ferguson Mary Ann Clark 💍 1868/8057	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	36 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 week 21 years	At the Catholic Church in Nelson	1190		17 July 1868	Rev. John Davis
79	17 July 1868	Thomas Hope Fairey Mary Wilhelmina Schuhmacher	Thomas Hope Fairey Mary Wilhelmina Schumacher 💍 1868/7994	Bachelor Spinster	Writing clerk	29 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 year 24 years	At the residence of Thomas H. Fairey Acton St. Nelson	1167		15 July 1868	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
80	29 July 1868	William Herry Glass Maria Withy Howell	William Henry Glass Marcia Wittsy Howell 💍 1868/8174	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 17	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 month 7 years	At the residence of Maria Decima Hawke Brook St. Valley	1230	Maria Decima Howell mother	7 August 1868	Rev. John Crump.
81	30 July 1868	Aleyander Brown Isabella Brown	Alexander Brown Isabella Brown 💍 1868/7919 William Anderson Isabella Brown 💍 1869/7386	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	37 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 years 20 years	At the residence of John Brown Stone mason Russell St. Nelson	1142		29 July 1868	Rev. Edward Thomas
82	3 August 1868	Andrew Scott Sarah Ann Eden	Andrew Scott Sarah Ann Eden 💍 1868/7997	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 25	City of Nelson Waimea East	8 years 25 years	At the residence of Richard Eden Farmer Rannau	1168		30 July 1868	Rev. Parick Calder
83	8 August 1868	Martin Bohen Margaret Burke	Martin Bohen Margaret Burke 💍 1868/8060	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	24 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	10 days 3 days	At the Catholic Church Nelson	1191		3 Aug 1868	Rev. John Crump
84	13 August 1868	William Dron Jane Rutherford	William Dron Jane Rutherford 💍 1868/7922	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 25	Waimea West Waimea South	17 years 12 years	At the residence of George Rutherford wheelwright Spring Grove	1143		13 Aug 1868	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 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).