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 439

District of Nelson Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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
23	4 April 1874	William Coleman Ellen Lucy Hallard	William Coleman Ellen Lucy Stallard 💍 1874/9391	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 22 years	at Christchurch Nelson	74/1200		4 April 1874	Rev. Geo. Henry Johnstone
24	9 April 1874	Joseph Wood Lucy Witney	Joseph Wood Lucy Witney 💍 1874/7852	Widower Spinster	Warehouseman	35 29	City of Nelson City of Nelson	16 years 20 years	At the residence of George Witney Gardener Merriguard St north, Nelson	74/673		9 April 1874	Rev. William M. Biss
25	15 April 1874	William Spencer Emma Elizabeth Frost	William Spencer Emma Elizabeth Frost 💍 1874/8197	Bachelor Widow	Carter	30 29	City of Nelson City of Nelson	11 years 17 years	At the residence of Thomas Harman Nile St: East settler Nelson	74/794		29 April 1874	Rev. Edward Thomas
26	17 April 1874	Daniel Anderson Agnes Golde	"not solemnized by vicar Parties went to S. ar goldfields"	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 28	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 days 2 weeks	At the residence of Benjamin Short Insurance agent Waimea road Nelson			17 April 1874	Rev. Thomas Buddle
27	23 April 1874	Thomas Epps Eliza Harsten	Thomas Epps Eliza Karsten 💍 1874/8203	Widower Widow	Nurseryman	62 42	City of Nelson City of Nelson	32 years 32 years	At the residence of Thomas Epps Nile St: East Nelson	74/796		8 May 1874	Rev. Edward Thomas
28	30 April 1874	William Flanagan Betsy Brown	William Flanagan Betsy Brown 💍 1874/8425	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	33 16	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 days 4 days	At St: Marys Catholic church Nelson	74/871	Thomas Brown Father	30 April 1874	Rev. Antoine Marie Garin
29	1 May 1874	Raby Peter Riley Sarah Oxley	Raby Peter Riley Sarah Oxley 💍 1874/9295	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 23	City of Nelson City of Nelson	3 days 2 weeks	At the Wesleyan chapel Nelson	74/1166		1 May 1874	Rev. Thomas Buddle
30	2 May 1874	John Harling Annie Watson	John Harling Annie Watson 💍 1874/8200	Bachelor Spinster	Horse breaker	26 21	City of Nelson City of Nelson	1 week 1 week	At the residence of The Rev. Edwd Thomas Manuka St: Nelson	74/795		2 May 1874	Rev. Edward Thomas
31	18 May 1874	Charles McCarthy Elizabeth Stagg	Charles McCarthy Elizabeth Stagg 💍 1874/5701	Bachelor Spinster	Officer	31 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	9 months 2 years		1805
32	26 May 1874	Henry Best Alicia Hill	Henry Best Alicia Hill 💍 1874/11173	Widower Spinster	Clerk	29 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	2 years 2 years	All Saints Church Nelson
33	27 May 1874	Robert Thomas Cotton Matilda Boyes	Robert Thomas Cotton Matilda Hodgkinson 💍 1874/7855	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 20	City of Nelson Wakefield Cata 2X Sober house South	16 years 20 years		74/674
34	28 May 1874	James Stratton Wilson Emma Jane Lidd	James Stratton Wilson Emelia Jane Tidd 💍 1874/9031	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	22 16	Stoke Do Re	6 months 6 months	Residence	74/1075	Thomas Samuel Lidd Father
35	9 June 1874	James Mortimer Martha Gardiner	James Mortimer Martha Gardiner 💍 1874/5721	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	17 years 17 years	Wesleyan Church Nelson	74/1165	Jesse Gardner Father
36	10 June 1874	Campbell Caladian Stewart Elizabeth Sarah Rosetta Lyford	Campbell Colqubon Stewart Elizabeth Sarah Rosetta Lyford 💍 1874/8209	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	City of Nelson City of Nelson	17 years 3 years	House of father Thomas	74/798
37	17 June 1874	Samuel Webb Isabella Towan	Samuel Street Isabella Lamlin 💍 1874/8206	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	23 22	City of Nelson City of Nelson	16 years 5 years	House At Wood Nelson	74/797
38	24 June 1874	James Wilson Rosina Rankin	James Wilson Robina Rankin 💍 1874/9034	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	36 20	City of Nelson City of Nelson	4 days 12 months	At the Presbyterian Church Nelson	74/1076	William Rankin Father
39	29 June 1874	William Scott Rodger Agnes Norman	William Scott Rodgers Agnes Burnand 💍 1874/14192	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 20	City of Nelson Do	3 days 3 days	Christ Church Nelson	51976	Harriette Handyside Mother

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).