Intentions to Marry, 1870

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840382, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, November 15 2024

Page 363

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1870

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
46	15 July 1870	William Mello Jackson Eliza Jane Best	Mills William Jackson Eliza Jane Best 💍 1870/6597	Bachelor Spinster	Cab driver	33 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 months 2 years	At the residence of Mello William Jackson Shakespeare Walk Nelson		13 July 1870	Rev. Edward Thomas
47	15 July 1870	John Charles Smith Edith Thompson	John Charles Smith Edith Thompson 💍 1870/6549	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 months 17 months	At Christ Church Nelson	Elizabeth Thompson, Mother	15 July 1870	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone
48	19 July 1870	Thomas Larchin Marie Louise Pheney	Thomas Larchin Marie Louise Pheney 💍 1870/6441	Bachelor Widow	Brewer	34 32	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 3 days	At the Office of The Register of marriages Nelson		19 July 1870	The Registrar of marriages Nelson
49	20 July 1870	Charles John Bartlett Emily Scadden	Charles John Bartlett Emily Scadden 💍 1870/6552	Bachelor Spinster	Builder	21 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 days 6 years	At Christ church Nelson		20 July 1870	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone
50	6 August 1870	Thomas Martin Winsett Elizabeth Ann Jones	Thomas Martin Winsett Elizabeth Ann Jones 💍 1870/6555	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	15 years 5 years	At Christ Church Nelson		6 Aug 1870	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone
51	15 August 1870	Harry Mills Mary Morison	Harry Mills Mary Morison 💍 1870/6486	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep farmer	24 19	City of Nelson Stoke	3 days 8 years	At the residence of Samuel Bolton seedsman Waimea Road Nelson	John Morison, Father	16 Aug 1870	Rev. Patrick Calder
52	18 August 1870	John Moore Richardson Frances Ann Thornton	John Moore Richardson Frances Anne Thornton 💍 1870/6558	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	29 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 years 11 years	At Christ Church Nelson	John Thornton, Father	1 Sept 1870	Rev. Richard Joshua Thorpe
53	2 Septem 1870	Marks Levien Boll Io Clayton	Marks Levin Bell Jo Clayton 💍 1870/6492	Bachelor Widow	Dealer	33 31	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 2 years	At the Manse Presbyterian Church Nelson		2 Sept 1870	Rev. Patrick Calder
54	3 Septem 1870	Alexander Fletcher Catherine McGee	Eugene Shine Catherine McGee 💍 1870/6714	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	31 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	9 years 21 years	At the Manse Presbyterian Church Nelson		3 Sept 1870	Rev. Patrick Calder
55	10 Septem 1870	Francis Laurence Mary Adam		Bachelor Widow	Labourer	29 28	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 years 13 years	At the residence of The Rev. Edward Thomas Manuka St. Nelson		10 Sept 1870	Rev. Edward Thomas
56	17 Septem 1870	James Lovell Sarah Boden		Widower Widow	Cooper	54 40	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 months 2 years	At the Nelson Public Baths Hardy St. Nelson		17 Sept 1870	Rev. William Moore Biss
57	21 Septem 1870	Mark William Lammas Elizabeth Hart	Mark William Lammas Elizabeth Hart 💍 1870/6606	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	24 22	Richmond Richmond	9 years 22 years	At the residence of Richard Hart Farmer Richmond		25 Sept 1870	Rev. Edward Thomas
58	21 Septem 1870	Richard Thomas Wright Mary Ann Avery	Richard Thomas Wright Mary Ann Avery 💍 1870/6603	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	39 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 11 years	At the residence of John Avery (Carpenter) Collingwood St. Nelson		21 Sept 1870	Rev. Edward Thomas
59	29 Septem 1870	John Paterson Murdoch Jane Ballantine Muir	John Paterson Murdoch Jane Ballantine Muir 💍 1870/6495	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	30 29	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 week 1 week	At the Presbyterian Church in Nelson		29 Sept 1870	Rev. Patrick Calder

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

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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).