Intentions to Marry, 1873

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840385, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 4 2024

Page 409

District of City of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1873

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
31	4 July 1873	Uriah Batchelor Rhoda Lydia Sherwood	Uriah Batchelor Rhoda Lydia Sherwood 💍 1873/8110	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	23 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	23 years 17 years	residence of John Sherwood, Nile St, East Nelson	73/1118	John Sherwood, Father	4 July 1873	Rev. Thomas Buddle
33	4 July 1873	Thomas Rowling Caroline Smith	Thomas Rowling Caroline Smith 💍 1873/8176	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	24 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	10 months 16 years	The residence of Rev. Edward Thomas, Manuka St, Nelson	73/1140	Charles Smith, Father	4 July 1873	Rev. Edward Thomas
35	11 July 1873	Christen Eriksen Greager Annie Elizabeth Avery	Christen Eriksen Gunger Annie Elizabeth Avery 💍 1873/8179	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 14 years	the residence of James Avery, Nile St, East Nelson	73/1141		[UNCLEAR]	Rev. Edward Thomas
36	16 July 1873	Quintin Hill Susan Maria Badman	Quintin Hill Susan Maria Badman 💍 1873/8200	Widower Spinster	Farmer	36 28	Waimea East Waimea East	3 years 1 year	At the office of the Registrar of marriages, Nelson	73/1149		16 July 1873	Registrar of Marriages
37	17 July 1873	George Moore Rowbotham Sarah Ramm	George Moore Rowbotham Sarah Ramm 💍 1873/8182	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 28	Suburban South Nelson City	2 years 5 years	At the residence of Noah Bray Burrell, Labourer, near Waimea Road	73/1142		17 Aug 1873	Rev. Thomas Buddle
38	23 July 1873	Mikkel Mikkelsen Elizabeth Devanny	Mikkel Antoni Mikkelson Elizabeth Devany 💍 1873/9025	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	24 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 2 weeks	St Marys Catholic Church, Nelson	73/1432	Andrew Devanny, Father	23 July 1873	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
40	31 July 1873	George Duncan McDonald Elizabeth Tregea	George Duncan MacDonald Elizabeth Tregea 💍 1873/8158	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	22 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	20 years 18 years	At the residence of William Flett, Constable, Hardy St, Nelson	73/1134	John Tregea, Father	4 Aug 1873	Rev. Patrick Calder
42	7 Aug 1873	Henry Allen Elizabeth Coombs	Henry Allen Elizabeth Coombes 💍 1873/8185 Henry William Allen Elizabeth Davies 💍 1873/4748	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	27 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 weeks 21 years	At the residence of Henry Coombs, Grove St, Nelson	73/1143		7 Aug 1873	Rev. Edward Thomas
43	18 Aug 1873	Robert Malcolm Harriet Webb	Robert Malcolm Harriet Webb 💍 1873/8122	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 17	Richmond, Waimea East City of Nelson	26 years 12 years	At the residence of Christopher Webb, Shoemaker, Hardy St, Nelson	73/1122	Christopher Webb, Father	18 Aug 1873	Rev. William Moore Biss
44	19 Aug 1873	Thomas Edward Wooton Elizabeth Frances Burnett	Thomas Edward Wootton Elizabeth Frances Burnett 💍 1873/8191	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	28 21	Dove Dale Dove Dale	1 year 5 years	At the residence of The Rev. Edward Thomas, Manuka St, Nelson	73/1145		19 Aug 1873	Rev. Edward Thomas
46	6 September 1873	Alfred Bridges Hall Clara Palmer	Alfred Bridges Hall Clara Palmer 💍 1873/8197	Bachelor Spinster	Hop grower	27 23	Waimea West Waimea West	6 years 23 years	At Christ Church Nelson	73/1147		20 Sept 1873	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone
47	8 September 1873	Alexander Greenlees McKinlay Eliza Catherine Watkins	Alexander Greenlees McKinley Eliza Catherine Watkins 💍 1873/10618	Bachelor Widow	Light keeper	34 33	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 week 8 years	At All Saints Church Nelson	73/1077		8 Sept 1873	Rev. Rich Joshua Thorpe
48	9 September 1873	William Sydney Munday Susannah Elizabeth West	William Sydney Munday Susannah Elizabeth Loftus West 💍 1873/8113	Bachelor Widow	Gentleman	35 28	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 1 week	at the residence of the Rev. Thos Buddle, Wesleyan minister, Hardy St, Nelson	73/1119		9 Sept 1873	Rev. Thomas Buddle
49	10 September 1873	Thomas Blennerhassett Amy Eliot	Thomas Blennerhassett Anny Eliot 💍 1873/8116	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	6 years 21 years	At the residence of John Newman, Bridge St, Nelson	73/1120		10 Sept 1873	Rev. Thomas Buddle
50	16 September 1873	Henry Trent Annie Hargreaves	Henry Trent Annie Hargraves 💍 1873/4781	Bachelor Spinster	Draftsman	25 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 days 25 years	At Christ Church Nelson	73/1148		16 Sept 1873	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone

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).