Intentions to Marry, 1869

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840381, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 343

District of Nelson Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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
27	2 April 1869	Thomas Carter Alice Palmer	Thomas Carter Alice Palmer 💍 1869/4620 Thomas Castro Alice Palmer 💍 1869/9639	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 20	Spring Grove Spring Grove	2 years 20 years	St. Paul's Church	843	Elizabeth Hyde, mother	2 April 1869	Rev. Charles O. Mules
28	10 April 1869	Joseph Bungate Margaret Lyford	Joseph Bungate Margaret Lyford 💍 1869/6558	Widower Widow	Farmer	56 63	Happy Valley Happy Valley	10 years 10 years	St. Andrews Church	778		4 June 1869	Rev. Geo. H. Johnstone
29	16 April 1869	Thomas Willis Cooper Harriet Elina Bradley	Thomas Willis Cooper Harriet Eliza Bradley 💍 1869/6441	Bachelor Spinster	Bailiff	33 18	City of Nelson Suburban South	3 days 18 years	Residence of Arthur Bradley	739	Arthur Bradley, father	16 April 1869	Rev. John Crump
30	17 April 1869	William Davidson Mary Ann Fieldes	William Davidson Mary Ann Fieldes 💍 1869/6537	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	24 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 20 years	All Saints Church	738	William Fieldes, father	4 May 1869	Rev. Richd. Joshua Thorpe
31	23 April 1869	Charles William John Siggelkow Martha Elizabeth Pope	Charles Wilhelm John Siggelkow Martha Elisabeth Pope 💍 1869/4100	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 22	Waimea East Waimea East	23 years 7 years	The Lutheran Church, Ranzau	759		8 May 1869	Rev. Christian Fred. Meyer
32	26 April 1869	John Harrison Barclay Eleanor Martin	John Harrison Barclay Elenor Martin 💍 1869/6465	Widower Spinster	Ironfounder	52 39	City of Nelson City of Nelson	10 years 3 years	The Catholic Church Nelson	746		26 April 1869	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
33	3 May 1869	Joseph Henry Hall Ada Rowe	Joseph Henry Hall Ada Rowe 💍 1869/6501	Bachelor Widow	Wheelwright	28 25	Hope Hope	14 weeks 3 months	The residence of Tho. J. R. Oxley, Brewer, Hope	758		3 May 1869	Rev. Christian Fred. Meyer
34	10 May 1869	Henry Tasker Isabella Hurcus Nichols	Henry Tasker Isabella Hurens Nichols 💍 1869/6606	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 18	Richmond Richmond	8 years 9 months	Residence of Alfred Hammond, Cooper, Richmond	794	Joshua Nichols, Father	12 May 1869	Rev. James Alfred Saylor
35	13 May 1869	Alexander Turbyne Robertson Barbara Rutherford	Alexander Tulbyne Robertson Barbara Rutherford 💍 1869/6609	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 23	Wakefield Spring Grove	3 months 10 years	Residence of George Rutherford, Wheelwright, Spring Grove	795		13 May 1869	Rev. Patrick Calder
36	17 May 1869	James Nesbit Annie M'Keough	James Nesbit Annie Keough 💍 1869/6468	Bachelor Spinster	Barman	21 27	City of Nelson City of Nelson	21 years 8 months	The Catholic Church, Nelson	747		17 May 1869	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
37	17 May 1869	Melville Sellon Eleanor Blanche Bush	Melville Sellon Eleanor Blanche Bush 💍 1869/6567	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 17	Wakefield Spring Grove	4 years 6 years	St. Paul's Church Spring Grove	781	Henrietta Bush, mother	17 May 1869	Rev. Charles O. Mules

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).