Intentions to Marry, 1874

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840386, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 437

District of Nelson Quarter ending Jan - Mar

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
1	5 January 1874	William Hewry Barlow Eliza bate	William Henry Barlow Eliza Cate 💍 1874/6592	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 21	Waunea East Waunea East	Six Years	at the Wesleyan Church Nelson	74/239		7 January 1874	Rev. Thomas Buddle
2	6 January 1874	William Toulison Julia Sarah King	William Tomlinson Julia Sarah Kingdon 💍 1874/6586	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	32 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Two years Ten years	Christ Church Nelson	74/237		8 January 1874	Rev. Geo Henry Johnstone
3	7 January 1874	Thomas O Sullivan Hannah moore	Thomas O'Sullivan Hannah Moore 💍 1874/6598	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	27 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Three days Ten months	at the Catholic Church Nelson	74/241		14 January 1874	Rev. A. M. Garin
4	9 January 1874	James Horrie Elizabeth Harriet Horve	James Horne Elizabeth Harriet Horn 💍 1874/6574 James Pilcher Elizabeth Harrison 💍 1874/13567	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	32 28	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Two weeks Two years	at the Bishops residence Trafalgar Square Nelson	74/233		14 January 1874	Rev. Patrick Calder
5	17 January 1874	Alfred Drew Sarah Younger	Alfred Drew Sarah Younger 💍 1874/6589	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	24 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Three days Six Years	at Christ church Nelson	74/238		19 January 1874	Rev. Geo Henry Johnstone
6	23 January 1874	Charles Best Elizabeth Bonney	Charles Best Elizabeth Boddington 💍 1874/6601	Widower Widow	Farmer	56 37	Appleby City of Nelson	Twenty two years Twelve months	at the house of Henry Bonney Waimea West	74/242		23 January 1874	Rev. Henry Rutherford
7	28 January 1874	Louis Theophilus Mabille Henrietta Kail	Louis Theophilus Mabille Henrietta Kaill 💍 1874/6559	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	38 25	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Three days Three Years	at the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	74/228		28 January 1874	The Registrar of Marriages Nelson
8	28 January 1874	James Hill Caroline ann Gow	James Hill Caroline Ann Powley 💍 1874/6619	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	30 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Four weeks Three weeks	at the residence of Thomas Gow Nelson	74/248	Thomas Henry Gow (Father)	28 January 1874	Rev. William Gammell
9	4 February 1874	Otto Haase Emma Housell	Otto Haase Emma Hounsell 💍 1874/6607	Bachelor Spinster	Livery Stable keeper	24 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Twelve Years Twenty Years	at the residence of William Housell Labourers Tasman St	74/244	William Houses (Father)	4 February 1874	Rev. Geo Henry Johnstone
10	4 February 1874	Thomas Murcott Hannah Busch	Thomas Murcott Hanah Burch 💍 1874/6610	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 23	Waimea East Waimea East	Seventeen years Twenty two years	at the house of James Busch Waimea East	74/245		4 February 1874	Rev. Edward Thomas
11	5 February 1874	Charles Best Elizabeth Boddington	Charles Best Elizabeth Boddington 💍 1874/6601	Widower Widow	Farmer	56 37	Appleby City of Nelson	Twenty two years Three Years	at the house of Henry Bailey Waimea West			7 February 1874	Rev. Henry Rutherford
12	6 February 1874	Harry Ninian Tilly Anna Maria Hodgson	Harry Vincent Gully Anna Maria Hodson 💍 1874/6604	Bachelor Spinster	articles Clerk	23 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Thirteen years Four Years	at All Saints Church Nelson	74/243		6 February 1874	Rev. Joshua Thorpe
13	7 February 1874	barel Hausen Jane Ferguson	Carl Hansen Jane Ferguson 💍 1874/6577	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	27 28	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Eight months Three days	at the Presbyterian Church Nelson	74/234		9 February 1874	Rev. Patrick Calder
14	10 February 1874	Benjamin Samuel Allen Mary anna Harvey	Benjamin Samuel Allen Mary Anna Harvey 💍 1874/6556	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	24 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Two years Six years	at the residence of the S. Allen Grove Street Nelson	74/227		10 February 1874	Rev. Will. Moore Biss
15	7 March 1874	John William Russell Emma Dellow	John William Russell Emma Dellow 💍 1874/6613	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	28 18	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Two weeks Two weeks	at the residence of Edward Pearcy Nelson	74/246	John Dellow (Father)	7 March 1874	Rev. Edward Thomas
16	10 March 1874	William Graham Jackson Emma Harcourt	William Graham Jackson Emma Harcourt March 💍 1874/6595	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer	29 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Twenty nine years Three Years	at the Commissioner Court Examiner Nelson	74/240		10 March 1874	Rev. Thomas Buddle
17	11 March 1874	William George Burton Ann Gorrie	William George Burton Ann Gorrie 💍 1874/6580	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	28 24	City of Nelson City of Nelson	Eight years Twenty four years	at the residence of James Gorrie Bridge St Nelson	74/235		11 March 1874	Rev. Patrick Calder

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).