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 347

District of Nelson Quarter ending Oct - Dec

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
54	5 October 1869	Joseph Bradcock Harriett Hooper	Joseph Bradcock Harriet Hooper 💍 1869/6594	Widower Widow	Labourer	38 33	City of Nelson City of Nelson	16 years 20 years	Residence of P. Harrich Hooper, Vanguard St, Nelson	790		19 October 1869	Rev. Willm Moore Biss
55	18 October 1869	Charles Gibbs Sarah Baigent	Charles Gibbs Sarah Baigent 💍 1869/6573	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	29 22	Wakefield Wakefield	2 years 22 years	St John's Church, Wakefield	783		2 November 1869	Rev. Chas Oliver Mules
56	2 November 1869	John Thomas Smith Elizabeth Ann Woodhouse	John Thomas Smith Elizabeth Ann Woodhouse 💍 1869/6522	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	33 27	Fox Hill Fox Hill	10 months 5 years	Residence of Rev. Edward Thomas, Manuka St, Nelson	766		2 November 1869	Rev. Edward Thomas
57	16 September 1869	William Thomas Styles Lydia Christison	William Thos Styles Lydia Christison 💍 1869/6459	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	30 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 10 years	Residence of Israel Pickard, Dealer, Emanu St, Nelson	746		2 November 1869	Rev. John Crump
58	3 November 1869	Robert William Bishop Mary Verry	Robert William Bishop Mary Verry 💍 1869/6615	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 19	Wakefield Wakefield	14 years 19 years	Wesleyan Chapel, Richmond	797	John Verry, Father	3 November 1869	Rev. James A. Taylor
59	6 November 1869	Joseph Harris Sarah Janet Rodgerson	Joseph Harris Sarah Janet Rogerson 💍 1869/6492	Bachelor Spinster	Banker	28 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 24 years	Residence of Willm Rodgerson, Gentleman, Maitai	755		6 November 1869	Rev. Patrick Calder
60	8 November 1869	George Stevenson Ellen Wolfenden	George Stevenson Ellen Woolfenden 💍 1869/6525	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	21 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 years 11 years	Residence of William Cross, Butcher, Hardy St, Nelson	767		8 November 1869	Rev. Edward Thomas
61	8 November 1869	William Douglas Esther Gillet	William Douglas Esther Gillett 💍 1869/6528	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	26 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 years 5 years	Residence of Alexander Knight, Jailor, Vanguard St, Nelson	768		8 November 1869	Rev. Edward Thomas
62	12 November 1869	Edgar William Newrick Harriett Annie Rickards	Edgar William Newrick Harriet Annie Rickards 💍 1869/6600	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	30 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 week 1 week	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	792		12 November 1869	The Registrar of Marriages
63	16 November 1869	Ambrose Eyles Moore Sarah Rebecca Snow	Ambrose Gyles Moore Sarah Rebecca Snow 💍 1869/6564	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant's Clerk	26 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 months 23 years	Christ Church, Nelson	780		16 November 1869	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone
64	18 November 1869	James Macintosh Mary Harwood	James Macintosh Mary Harwood 💍 1869/6462	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	34 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 11 years	Residence of Geo. Wales Lightband, Gentleman, Nile St East, Nelson	745		2 December 1869	Rev. John Crump
65	20 November 1869	James Thomas Roberts Rhoda Withey	James Thomas Roberts Rhoda Witley 💍 1869/6495	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 35	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 weeks 6 months	Presbyterian Church, Nelson	756		20 November 1869	Rev. Patrick Calder
66	23 November 1869	Frederick Newton Nalder Eliza Hale	Frederick Newton Nalder Eliza Hale 💍 1869/6549	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	25 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	13 years 14 years	All Saints Church, Nelson	775		8 December 1869	Rev. Richard Joshua Thorpe

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).