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 355

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
99	3 October 1868	John Flett Isabella Flett	John Flett Isabella Flett 💍 1868/7934	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	33 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 years 2 years	at the residence of William Flett Constable Collingwood St. Nelson	1147		3 October 1868	Rev. Patrick Calder
100	12 October 1868	Isaac Ostegen Margaret Elizabeth Evans	Isaac Ostegen Margaret Elizabeth Evans 💍 1868/7937	Bachelor Spinster	Stoker	28 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 1 year	At the Presbyterian Church Nelson	1148		12 October 1868	Rev. Patrick Calder
101	13 October 1868	Thomas Hodgson Catherine Smith	Thomas Hodgson Catherine Smith 💍 1868/7940	Widower Spinster	Artist Artist	36 32	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 years 10 years	At the residence of Thomas Hodgson Shelburne St. Nelson	1149		13 Oct. 1868	Rev. Patrick Calder
102	17 October 1868	John Whent Annie Maria Knight	John Whent Anne Maria Knight 💍 1868/8183	Widower Widow	Publican Publican	51 30	City of Nelson City of Nelson	10 years 7 months	At the residence of John Whent Nile St. East Nelson	1233		17 October 1868	Rev. Edward Thomas
103	19 October 1868	Stuart Walpole Watts Mary Ann Hay	Stuart Walpole Walls Mary Ann Kay 💍 1868/8009	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller Jailor	26 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	14 months 3 years	At the residence of Donald Swanson Afton St. Nelson	1172		19 October 1868	Rev. John Crump
104	27 October 1868	William Haydon Leech Pauline Constance Augarde	William Haydon Leech Pauline Constnace Augarde 💍 1868/8132	Bachelor Spinster	Commision Agent	27 17	City of Nelson Suburban South Nelson	8 months 18 months	At Christ church Nelson	1215	Henry John Louis Augarde Father	27 October 1868	Rev. Geo: Henry Johnstone
105	31 October 1868	Evan Lloyd Louisa Denne	Evan Lloyd Louisa Denne 💍 1868/8012	Widower Spinster	Baker Baker	41 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 7 years	At the residence of Evan Lloyd Nile St. East Nelson	1173	John George Denne Father	31 October 1868	Rev. John Crump
106	2 November 1868	Alfred Waters Mary Berry	Alfred Waters Mary Perry 💍 1868/8138	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 42	Spring Grove Richmond	1 year 5 years	At Holy Trinity Church Richmond	1217		2 Nov. 1868	Rev. Will David Rob: Lewis
107	2 November 1868	Stephen Wybourn Clark Luna Maria Gibson	Stephen Mybourn Clark Luna Maria Gibson 💍 1868/8186	Widower Spinster	Carter Carter	41 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	14 years 24 years	At the residence of Stephen Wybourn Clark Harley St. Nelson	1234		2 Nov. 1868	Rev. Edward Thomas
108	2 November 1868	Thomas John Tester Elizabeth Manley	Thomas John Tester Elizabeth Manley 💍 1868/7943	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Mariner	24 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 1 year	At the residence of Thomas John Tester Waimea Rd. Nelson	1150		2 Nov. 1868	Rev. Patrick Calder
109	5 November 1868	Henry Moore Emily Gill	Henry Moore Emily Gill 💍 1868/8189	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	22 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 15 years	At the Post Boy Hotel Vanguard St. Nelson	1235		5 Nov. 1868	Rev. Edward Thomas
110	6 November 1868	William Dickson Margaret McMillan	William Dunn Margaret Sinclair 💍 1868/8843 William Gibbs Margaret Sloss 💍 1868/8018 William Patton Margaret Thompson 💍 1868/9308	Widower Spinster	Miner	32 26	City of Nelson City of Nelson	9 months 20 months	At the manse of the Presbyterian church Nelson
111	10 November 1868	John Moore Jane Robinson	John Moon Jane Robinson 💍 1868/7946	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	36 27	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 8 years	At the Presbyterian Church Nelson	1157		10 Nov. 1868	Rev. Patrick Calder
112	14 November 1868	James Cross Burford Martha Field	James Cross Burford Martha Field 💍 1868/8192	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 years 14 years	At All Saints Church Nelson	1238		14 Nov. 1868	Rev. Rich: Joshua Thorpe

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).