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 356

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
113	16 November 1868	Thomas Goodman Harriett Grooby	Thomas Goodman Harriett Grooby 💍 1868/4353	Bachelor Spinster	farm labourer	21 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 3 months	at the residence of Florenze Banile Joseph Nile St. West Nelson	1236	John Grooby, father	17 November 1868	Rev. Edward Jhon
114	10 December 1868	Frederick Pearce Mary Bewridge Scott	Frederick Pearce Mary Beveridge Scott 💍 1868/8015	Bachelor spinster	Mariner	34 26	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 2 years	At the residence of William Bellamy Telemonger washington Rd. Nelson	1194		24 December 1868	Rev. John Crump
115	14 December 1868	Andrew Blick Emma Jane Dew	Andrew Blick Emma Jane Dew 💍 1868/8207	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 20	Naimea East Naimea East	12 weeks 14 years	at the residence of Emanuel Dew farmer Wainea East	1244	Emanuel Dew, father	14 December 1868	Rev. John Crump
116	15 December 1868	David Barrie Janet Stewart	David Barrie Janet Stewart 💍 1868/8195	Bachelor Spinster	Store Keeper	28 26	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 days 6 days	At All Saints Church Nelson	1239		15 December 1868	Rev. Rich. Joshua H.
117	15 December 1868	William Gibbs Margaret Sloss	William Gibbs Margaret Sloss 💍 1868/8018	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 17	Motupiko valley Motupiko valley	25 years 17 years	At the residence of Isaac Gibbs Southdown farm Maimea South	1175	Esther Coleman, mother	15 December 1868	Rev. John Crump
118	17 December 1868	Joshua Nebley Eliza Jane Nation	Joshua Webley Eliza Jane Nation 💍 1869/6579	Bachelor Spinster	Cloth manufacturer	25 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	11 years 11 years	At the residence of william Nation Publisher Manuka St. Nelson	785		31 December 1868	Rev. William Moore
119	21 December 1868	John Gordon McPherson Lydia Linasquire	John Gordon McPherson Lydia Eliza Squire 💍 1868/8216	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	31 21	Wakefield Wakefield	18 months 17 years	At St: Johns Church Wakefield	1247		21 December 1868	The Bishop of Nelson
120	24 December 1868	Joseph Short Scott Bridget Ellen Armstrong	Joseph Short Scott Bridget Ellen Armstrong 💍 1868/8072	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	29 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 13 years	At St. Mary's Catholic Church Nelson	1195		24 December 1868	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
121	28 December 1868	John Atwood Mary Ann Gentry	John Atwood Mary Ann Gentry 💍 1868/4299	Widower Widow	Farmer	63 48	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 week 10 years	At the residence of Mary Ann Gentry Shelburne St. Nelson	1237		28 December 1868	Rev. Edward Jhon
122	28 December 1868	James Hector Maria Georgiana Monro	James Hector Maria Georgiana Monro 💍 1868/8135	Bachelor Spinster	M. D.	34 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 weeks 20 years	At Christ Church Nelson	1216	Sir David Monro, father	28 December 1868	Rev. Geo: Henry Cole
123	30 December 1868	William Webley Frances Elizabeth Orley	William Webley Francis Elizabeth Oxley 💍 1869/6423	Bachelor Spinster	Cloth manufacturer	22 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	11 years 20 years	At the residence of William Webley cloth worker Bridge St. Nelson	722	Declaration no person in N.Z having authority	30 December 1868	Rev. John Crump

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).