Intentions to Marry, 1876

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840388, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

A few of the pages are missing.

Page 483

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1876

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
51	3 October 1876	Organ Charles Smith Margaret	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	28 26	St Vincent St, Nelson Alton Street Nelson	4 days 2 years	At the residence of George Smith, Miller, Alton Street Nelson	76/3062	3 October 1876	Rev. Patrick Calder
52	10 October 1876	Smith James Hadfield Cohen Mattie	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Nil	28 22	Trafalgar Street Nelson Nile Street East Nelson	3 days 2 months	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	76/2382	10 October 1876	The Registrar of Marriages
53	11 October 1876	Galland Thomas Burfield Tyler Ellen	Bachelor Spinster	Steward P.S. "Wallace" Dressmaker	24 28	P.S. "Wallace" belonging to Nelson St Vincent Street Nelson	3 years 2 years	At the "Globe" Hotel, St Vincent Street Nelson	76/3063	11 October 1876	Rev. Patrick Calder
54	24 October 1876	Denton John Henderson Hudd Elizabeth Jane	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer Nil	26 24	Hardy Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	5 days 3 days	At Christ Church Nelson	76/3029	24 October 1876	Rev. James Leighton
55	25 October 1876	Thompson Charles Jamieson Catherine	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Nil	23 22	Ketch "Pearl" belonging to Nelson Harley Street Nelson	18 months 2 years	At the residence of [illegible] Harley Street Nelson	76/2694	25 October 1876	Rev. John Beckenham
56	2 November 1876	Packard James Wallis Mary Ann	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	22 22	Washington Road Nelson "The Cliffs" Nelson	4 days 3 years	At Christ Church Nelson	76/3030	2 November 1876	Rev. James Leighton
57	4 November 1876	Gifford Samuel Bomford Annie Rebecca	Widower Widow	Gardener Dressmaker	45 33	Stoke Suburban South Waimea Road Nelson	10 years 4 years	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	76/2383	4 November 1876	The Registrar of Marriages Nelson
58	6 November 1876	Turnbull Andrew Hingdon Alice Eyre	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor Nil	31 24	Collingwood St Nelson Halifax Street Nelson	3 days 14 years	At Christ Church Nelson	76/3031	6 November 1876	The Lord Bishop of Nelson
59	28 November 1876	Wise George Munday Catherine Grace	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Dressmaker	29 32	Morrison Street Nelson Washington Road Nelson	5 months 2 years	At the residence of James Million, Carpenter, Brook Street Nelson	76/2694	28 November 1876	Rev. George S. Harper
60	13 December 1876	Menary Thomas Lechner Mary	Bachelor Widow	Hotel Keeper Dressmaker	36 28	Bridge Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	9 years 25 years	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson			Not Issued
61	15 December 1876	Mairs Arthur Oxnam Alma	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	36 21	Collingwood Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	3 days 3 days	At Christ Church Nelson	76/3134	15 December 1876	Rev. James Leighton
62	19 December 1876	Robinson Edward Aldis Lewis Mary Ann	Bachelor Spinster	Chief Officer P.S. "Charles Edward" Nil	33 21	On board P.S. "Charles Edward" [illegible]	3 years 5 years	Protestant Episcopalian Church, East Takaka, Golden Bay	76/2692	19 December 1876	Rev. T. S. Hutchinson
63	27 December 1876	Dougherty Patrick Joseph Solly Isabella	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Nil	33 21	Collingwood Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	4 days 4 days	At St Marys Catholic Church Nelson	76/2695	27 December 1876	Rev. William Mahoney
64	29 December 1876	Murray George Bell Lister Annie	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Nil	38 30	South Street Nelson Trafalgar Street North Nelson	2 years 4 months	At the Presbyterian Church Nelson	76/3064	29 December 1876	Rev. Patrick Calder

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).