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 351

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 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
37	10 October 1871	Garrard Thomas Wastney Mary		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 20	City of Nelson Suburban North	3 years 20 years	St. Andrews Church	M 72	Wastney John, father	25 October 1871	Rev. Geo Henry Johnstone
38	30 October 1871	Willson Allan John James Meyers Eleanor		Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 22	City of Nelson Maitai Valley	4 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church Nelson	200		30 October 1871	Rev. Patrick Calder
39	31 October 1871	William Walker Betsy Ann Marris	William Walker Betsy Ann Marris 💍 1871/7395	Widower Widow	Brewer	54 34	City of Nelson City of Nelson	8 months 7 years	At Christ-Church Nelson	M 72 201		31 October 1871	Rev. Geo Henry Johnstone
40	8 November 1871	Gully Philip Lewis Hodgson Mary Elizabeth		Bachelor Spinster	Merchants Clerk	24 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	10 years 2 years	All Saints Church Nelson	201		24 November 1871	Rev. Rich Joshua Thorpe
41	11 November 1871	Mc Donald John Primmer Fanny		Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	22 21	City of Nelson Richmond	22 years 2 months	The residence of William Flett, Jasman Settler St. Nelson	M 72 659		11 November 1871	Rev. Patrick Calder
42	17 November 1871	Ching James Doidge Mary Ann		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 22	Suburban South Suburban South	23 years 11 years	The residence of The Rev. Edw Thomas, Manuka St. Nelson	202 659		17 November 1871	Rev. Edw Thomas
43	18 November 1871	Cresswell William David St. John Fanny Elizabeth		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 25	Stoke Suburban South Waimea East	21 years 3 years	Wesleyan Chapel Stoke	M 72 208		18 November 1871	Rev. William Cannell
44	20 November 1871	Neill James Moore Jane		Widower Spinster	Farmer	33 22	Dove Dale City of Nelson	5 years 9 years	Presbyterian Church Nelson	M 72 202		20 November 1871	Rev. Patrick Calder
45	25 November 1871	Scott William James Spittal Helen		Widower Spinster	Brewer	35 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	5 years 21 years	The residence of Thomas Henry Scott, Maitai road Nelson	M 72 664		9 December 1871	Rev. Patrick Calder
46	28 November 1871	Jefson Samuel Yewlett Elizabeth		Bachelor Widow	Store Keeper	36 39	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 3 days	Presbyterian Church Nelson	M 72 662		28 November 1871	Rev. Patrick Calder
47	6 December 1871	Joshua Sigley Mary Macfarlane	Joshua Sigley Mary Macfarlane 💍 1871/7404	Widower Widow	Lamplighter	65 67	Nelson City Nelson City	15 years 6 years	The residence of William Akersten marine surveyor, Hampden St. Nelson	M 72204		22 December 1871	Rev. Edward Thomas
48	6 December 1871	William Ashton Herrick Sarah Tannant	William Ashton Herrick Sarah Tannant 💍 1871/8760	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 3 days	Presbyterian Church Nelson	M 72663		6 December 1871	Rev. Patrick Calder
49	19 December 1871	Wheadon John Reader Minna		Bachelor Spinster	Bar man	31 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 years 2 years	The residence of John McDonald, Bridge St. Nelson	M 72 203		19 December 1871	Rev. Edward Thomas
50	27 December 1871	James Scarth Wilkinson Lucy Ann Griffith	James Scarth Wilkinson Lucy Ann Griffith 💍 1871/7407	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 3 days	The residence of John Wilkinson miller, Church St. Nelson	M 72205		27 December 1871	Rev. William I. Watkin
51	30 December 1871	Harkness Robert Wan Margaret		Bachelor Widow	Labourer	44 45	Richmond Nelson City	7 years 1 week	Presbyterian Church Nelson	M 72 665		30 December 1871	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).