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 441

District of Nelson Quarter ending Jul - Sep

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
40	2 July 1874	Robert Beatson Elizabeth Giblin	Robert Beatson Elizabeth Giblin 💍 1874/13825	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 19+	Nelson Stoke	3 days 19 Years	St Baruabus Church	2723	Fredk Giblin, Father	2 July 1874	Rev. Henry Rutherford
41	2 July 1874	Alfred Mason Jane Elizabeth Macy	Alfred Mason Jane Elizabeth Macey 💍 1874/9700	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 21	Bleuheim Nelson	3 Years 5 Months	House of William Macy	1304		2 July 1874	Rev. William Shrossiffs
42	8 July 1874	James Ryan Annies Josephine Alex	James Ryan Annie Josephine Cullen 💍 1874/9742	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	36 21	Nelson	3 Weeks 3	Customary's HMX Chapel Nelson	1318		8 July 1874	Rev. A. M. Garin
43	17 July 1874	George Edwin Field Bessie Annie Lucas	George Edwin Field Bessie Annie Lucas 💍 1874/9577	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	20 15	Nelson Washington Valley Nelson	10 Years	at the house	1263	Field Thomas Lucas FATHER	19 July 1874	Rev. Thos Buddle
44	28 July 1874	Henry Kenny Mary Ann Coleman	Henry Kenny Mary Ann Coleman 💍 1874/9955	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	24 21	Nelson	3 days 9 months	at the office of the Registrar of marriages Nelson	1390		28 July 1874	The Registrar Nelson
45	4 August 1874	William Robinson Sarah Jane Lunn	William Robinson Sarah Jane Lunn 💍 1874/9745	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 19	City of Nelson	1 Years 3 Years	at the residence of James Lunn Bricklayer Waimea Street Nelson	1319	Lunn James FATHER	4 August 1874	The Rev. Patrick Bolder
46	7 August 1874	Francis Grinned Adeline Thomas	Frances Grimes Adiline Thomas 💍 1874/10291	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	36 33	bity of Nelson	4 Years 10	at the residence of the Rev. Edw. Thomas Manuka St Nelson	1505		7 August 1874	The Rev. Edw. Thomas
47	10 August 1874	James Burus Green Elizabeth Houlderness Hadfield	James Burn Green Elizabeth Houlderness Hadfield 💍 1874/9580	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	23 22	City of Nelson	3 days 14 years	at the Wesleyan Church, Hardy St Nelson	74/1264		10 August 1874	The Rev. Thos Buddle
48	17 August 1874	John Fowle Ann Susannah Irwin	John Powle Ann Susannah Marten 💍 1874/11170	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	28 28	City of Nelson	5 days 2 Years	at All Saints Church Nelson	1804		17 August 1874	The Lord Bishop of Nelson
49	21 August 1874	James Dunn Emma Eliza Robinson	James Dunn Emma Elison Robinson 💍 1874/9748	Bachelor Spinster	miner	27 18	City of Nelson	5 Years 18 Years	at the residence of Joseph Show Labourer oppositle wharf Nelson	1320	Elizabeth Show Mother	20 August 1874	Patrick Bulden
50	29 August 1874	George Burfield Sarah Jane Burren	George Barfield Galland Sarah Jane Currin 💍 1874/10297	Bachelor Spinster	Shopman	20 21	City of Nelson	8 Years 6 months	at the residence of the Rev. Edw. Thomas Manuka St Nelson	1507	No person in Nelson having authority to consent	12 September 1874	The Rev. Edw. Thomas
51	22 September 1874	Israel Graves Rachael Rue Bailly	Ivatt Graves Rachel Rae Bently 💍 1874/9751	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	36 22	City of Nelson	3 days 17 years	at the Residence of Samuel Esqr. Brougham Street Nelson	1321		22 September 1874	The Rev. Patrick Balles

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).