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 360

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 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
16	12 February 1870	James Smith Mary Elizabeth Win	James Smith Mary Elizabeth Win 💍 1870/6447	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 19	Dove Dale Waimea East	3 years 19 years	At the residence of John Win, Farmer, Waimea East	John Win, father	12 February 1870	Rev. James Alfred Saylor
17	15 February 1870	William Sharagyn Frances Greenwood	William Pharazyn Frances Greenwood 💍 1870/6543	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister	27 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 2 years	At Christ church Nelson		15 February 1870	Rev. Geo Henry Johnstone
18	17 February 1870	Henry Young Mary Ann Arey	Henry Young Mary Ann Grey 💍 1870/3799	Bachelor Spinster	Boatman	26 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	7 years 9 days	At All Saints Church Nelson		17 February 1870	Rev. Richard Joshua Thorpe
19	19 February 1870	John Edward Neame Marilda Jane Lodge	John Edward Nearne Matilda Jane Lodge 💍 1870/6579	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 24	Richmond Richmond	16 years 15 years	At the residence of The Revd. Edward Thomas, Manuka St, Nelson		19 February 1870	Revd. Edward Thomas
20	21 February 1870	James Leighton Johanna Pourke	James Leighton Johanna Rourke 💍 1870/6513	Bachelor Spinster	Farm servant	28 25	Richmond City of Nelson	4 years 2 years	At the Catholic Church Nelson		21 February 1870	Revd. Antoine Marie Garin
21	22 February 1870	William Conway Susan Reardon	William Conway Suzan Reardon 💍 1870/6516	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 years 18 years	At the Catholic Church Nelson	Johanna Reardon, mother	22 February 1870	Revd. Antoine Marie Garin
22	23 February 1870	Thomas Brown Emma Taylor	Thomas Brown Catherine Emma Homann 💍 1870/6327 Thomas Brown Esther Thomas 💍 1870/5253	Widower Widow	Farmer	35 35	Richmond Richmond	18 years 7 years	At the residence of said Thomas Brown, Richmond		14 March 1870	Rev. James Alfred Taylor
23	1 March 1870	Thomas Grooby Emma Grooby	Thomas Grooby Emma Grooby 💍 1870/6582	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 days 4 days	At the residence of Florenine Basile Joseph, Waite Street west, Nelson		1 March 1870	Revd. Edward Thomas
24	11 March 1870	Authonio Welt Filistea Durham	Anthonia Brett Felislia Durham 💍 1870/6507	Bachelor Widow	Fisherman	31 31	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 years 4 years	At the Wesleyan Church Nelson		11 March 1870	Rev. John Crump
25	17 March 1870	George Jones Emma Hollis	George Jones Emma Hollis 💍 1870/6480	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler maker	23 18	City of Nelson Moutere	3 weeks 9 days	At the residence of Joseph Gassard, Haven road Nelson	Joseph Hollis, father	19 March 1870	Rev. Patrick Calder
26	28 March 1870	William Henry Chant Louisa Eden	William Henry Chant Louisa Eden 💍 1870/6528	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial maker	23 17	City of Nelson Waimea West	23 years 17 years	At St. Paul's Church	Thomas Eden, father	not get issued
27	28 March 1870	Robert John Goodman Elizabeth Talbot	Robert John Goodman Elizabeth Talbot 💍 1870/6585	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 3 days	At the residence of John William Lockett, adjutant nelson militia, Wakatuama St. Nelson		28 March 1870	Rev. Edward Thomas
28	28 March 1870	Thomas Knight Worthington Mary Ann Tucker	Thomas Knight Worthington Mary Ann Tucker 💍 1870/6525	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 27	Upper Moutere Upper Moutere	3 years 4 years	At St. Alban's Church Appleby		28 March 1870	Rev. Charles Oliver Mules
29	30 March 1870	James Harper Sarah Wratt	James Harper Sarah Wratt 💍 1870/9453	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	39 23	Spring Grove Spring Grove	5 years 23 years	At the residence of Sarah Wratt, widow, Spring Grove		not yet issued
30	31 March 1870	George Rutherford Emma Smith	George Rutherford Emma Smith 💍 1870/6450	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	32 19	Spring Grove Spring Grove	17 years 2 weeks	At the residence of George Rutherford, wheelwright, Spring Grove	Susannah Rigby, mother	30 March 1870	Rev. James Alfred Taylor

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).