Intentions to Marry, 1872

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840384, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 309

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
38	22 October 1872	Arthur Carnshaw Gertrude Ruff	Arthur Earnshaw Gertrude Ruff 💍 1872/8657	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	12 years 12 years	at the residence of The Revd Edw Thomas Manuka St. Nelson	72/2347		22 October 1872	Rev. Edward Thomas
39	28 October 1872	John Earll Sherwood Hannah Broom Walker	John Earll Sherwood Hannah Broom Walker 💍 1872/8594	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	21 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	17 years 19 years	at the residence of William Walker Settler Waimea road	72/2345	William Walker Father	12 November 1872	Rev. Decimus Dolamore
40	6 November 1872	Henry Score Sanders Mary Ann Wimsett	Henry Score Sanders Mary Ann Wimsett 💍 1872/8660	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	11 years 15 years	at the residence of Henry Score Sanders Grove Street Nelson	72/2368		20 November 1872	Rev. Edward Thomas
41	9 November 1872	Frederick Atkinson Leah Frost	Frederick Atkinson Leah Frost 💍 1872/8588	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	9 years 16 years	at the residence of Frederick Atkinson Haven Road Nelson	72/2343		9 November 1872	Rev. Patrick Calder
42	9 November 1872	John Armshong Margaret Jumms	John Armstrong Margaret Timms 💍 1872/8609	Widower Widow	Carter	54 46	City of Nelson City of Nelson	31 years 3 years	At the Catholic Church Nelson	72/2357		9 November 1872	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
43	15 November 1872	William George McGee Margaret Davison	Wm George McGhee Margaret Davison 💍 1872/8585	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	22 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	22 years 7 years	at the Presbyterian Church Nelson	72/2342		15 November 1872	Rev. Patrick Calder
44	18 November 1872	Henry William Parsons Gertrude Kinyvett	Henry William Parsons Gertrude Knyvett 💍 1872/8666	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	26 26	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 2 months	at All Saints Church Nelson	72/2370		18 November 1872	Rev. Richd Joshua Thorpe
45	18 November 1872	Alfred John James Emily Palmer	Alfred John James Emily Palmer 💍 1872/8636	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 24	Waimea South Waimea West	2 years 24 years	at S: Michaels church Waimea West	72/2360		18 November 1872	Rev. Chas Oliver Mules
46	23 November 1872	Charles Larkins Frances Betts	Charles Larkins Frances Betts 💍 1872/8684	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	29 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 18 years	at the residence of Alfred George Betts Hardy Street Nelson	72/2377		23 November 1872	Rev. Willm. I. Wathin
47	3 December 1872	George Armshong Charlotte Ann Matthews	George Armstrong Charlotte Anne Matthews 💍 1872/8663	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	22 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	22 years 12 years	at the residence of George Matthews Cambria Nelson	72/2369		3 December 1872	Rev. Patrick Calder
48	14 December 1872	Edward Burman Waring Alice Buston	Edward Burman Waring Alice Buxton 💍 1873/8203	Bachelor Spinster	Medical Practitioner	31 30	Richmond Stoke Suburban	1 year 10 years	At S: Barnabas Church Stoke	73/1150		14 December 1872	Rev. The Lord Bishop of Nelson
49	14 December 1872	Nicholas Vendore Fanny Clifford	Nicholas Vendore Fanny Clifford 💍 1872/8612	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	32 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 years 9 years	at St: Marys Catholic church Nelson.	72/2352		14 December 1872	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
50	20 December 1872	Thomas Finch Maria Carter	Thomas Finch Maria Carter 💍 1872/5684	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraph Lineman	30 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 3 days	at the residence of Hannah Rankin Storekeeper Hardy Street Nelson	72/1357	George Carter Father	20 December 1872	Rev. William Moore Biss
51	21 December 1872	Charles Price Elizabeth Eden	Charles Price Elizabeth Eden 💍 1872/8639	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 25	Waimea West Waimea East	28 years 25 years	at S: Michaels church Waimea West	72/2361		21 December 1872	Rev. Charles O. Mules

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).