Intentions to Marry, 1871

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840383, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 347

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1871

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
17	4 April 1871	Alexander Chalmers Annie Victoria Scott	Alexander Chalmers Annie Victoria Scott 💍 1871/5334	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	38 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	12 years 2 years	At the residence of Alexander Chalmers, Manuka St, Nelson	m 71/486		4 April 1871	Rev. Edward Thomas
18	8 April 1871	John Stewart Sarah White	John Stewart Sarah White 💍 1871/5289	Bachelor Spinster	Shoe maker	22 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	11 years 19 years	At the residence of Joseph White, Bridge St, Nelson	m 71/471	Joseph White, father	8 April 1871	Rev. Willm Moore Biss
19	8 April 1871	Harrison Bentley Ainsworth Hannah Sinclair	Harrison Beattey Ainsworth Hannah Sinclair 💍 1871/7383	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	40 32	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 10 years	At the residence of said Hannah Sinclair, Havenroad Nelson	m 72/197		8 April 1871	Rev. Patrick Calder
20	17 April 1871	William John Neuman Louisa Henrietta Schwass	William John Neiiman Louisa Henriette Schwass 💍 1871/5340	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 22	Waimea West Waimea West	1 week 3 years	At the residence of Rev. Edward Thomas, Manuka St, Nelson	m 71/488		1 May 1871	Rev. Edward Thomas
21	20 April 1871	John Whent Mary Ann Bray	John Whent Mary Ann Bray 💍 1871/5337	Widower Widow	Publican	60 50	City of Nelson City of Nelson	14 years 10 years	At the residence of Caroline Simson, Tasman St, Nelson	m 71/487		20 April 1871	Rev. Edward Thomas
22	20 April 1871	Joseph Henry Simmonds Sarah Holdaway	Joseph Henry Simmonds Sarah Holdaway 💍 1871/5274	Bachelor Spinster	Wesleyan minister	25 21	City of Nelson Richmond	3 days 15 years	At the residence of John Holdaway, Farmer Richmond	m 71/266		20 April 1871	Rev. William I. Watkin
23	27 April 1871	William Hill Mary Ann Jary	William Hill Mary Ann Jary 💍 1871/5280	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 22	Waimea East Waimea East	6 years 6 months	At St Albans Church Appleby	M 71/468		27 April 1871	Rev. Charles Oliver Mules
24	3 May 1871	William Davis Catherine Chamberlain	William Davis Catherine Chamberlain 💍 1871/7386	Widower Spinster	Photographer	33 30	City of Nelson City of Nelson	8 years 12 years	At the residence of John moore writing clerk, Tasman St Nelson	198		3 May 1871	Rev. Patrick Calder
25	8 May 1871	John Holloway Anna Thorpe	John Holloway Anna Thorpe 💍 1871/5283	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant, Bank of N.Z.	29 27	City of Nelson City of Nelson	8 months 3 years	At All Saints Church Nelson	m 71/469		8 May 1871	Rev. Richard Joshua Thorpe
26	27 May 1871	Leonard Stowe Jane Greenwood	Leonard Stowe Jane Greenwood 💍 1871/5319	Widower Spinster	Clerk, Legislative Council N.Z.	34 30	Nelson Nelson	4 days 4 years	At Christchurch	m 71/481		27 May 1871	Rev. George Henry Johnstone
27	30 May 1871	Andrew William Malcolm Alziere Bell	Andrew William Malcolm Algiere Bell 💍 1871/8256	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 19	Richmond Richmond	4 years 7 years	At the residence of Eliza Bell, Widow Richmond	492	Eliza Bell, mother	30 May 1871	Rev. William Counsell
28	31 May 1871	Bernard Coudell Emily Monk	Bernard Coudell Emily Monk 💍 1871/5310	Widower Widow	Farmer	40 30	Suburban South City of Nelson	2 months 2 years	At the Catholic Church Nelson	m 71/478		31 May 1871	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
29	26 June 1871	Michael Campion Mary Byrne	Michael Campion Mary Byrne 💍 1871/5301	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 26	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 days 3 days	At the Catholic Church Nelson	m 71/475		26 June 1871	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin

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).