Intentions to Marry, 1877

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840389, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 453

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1877 Registrar Robert Pickett

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
25	4 April 1877	Charles Eyles Amelia Mytton	Charles Eyles Amelia Mytton 💍 1877/1013	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Richmond Waimea East Richmond Waimea East	25 years 1 month	At the residence of Amelia Eyles widow Richmond	77/933		4 April 1877	Rev. Thos. F. Reeve
26	6 April 1877	Frederick Henry Ibbetson Matilda Rusy	Frederick Henry Ibbetson Matilda Kusz 💍 1877/1390	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk R. M. Court	30 18	Bridge Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	3 days 6 days	At Christ Church Nelson	77/1339	No person in N.Z. having authority to consent Mytton Edward Father	6 April 1877	Rev. James Leighton
27	6 April 1877	Edward Mytton Anna Eyles	Edward Mytton Anna Eyles 💍 1877/1014	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	19 17	Richmond Waimea East Richmond Waimea East	19 years 17 years	At the residence of Amelia Eyles widow Richmond	77/934	Edward Mytton father Amelia Eyles mother	6 April 1877	Rev. Decimus Dolamore, Bapt
28	12 April 1877	James Ingle Elkington Annie Elizabeth Blanchard	James Hickton Elizabeth Anne Blanchard 💍 1879/2437	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 24	St. Vincent Street Nelson St. Vincent Street Nelson	8 months 1 week	Church Nelson			12 April 1877	Rev. Thomas Saml. Grace Junr.
29	18 April 1877	William Henry Moore Esther Jane Eyles	William Henry Moore Esther Jane Eyles 💍 1877/1021	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 21	Richmond Waimea East Stoke Suburban South	7 months 1 month	At the Wesleyan Chapel Stoke	77/940		18 April 1877	Rev. George S. Harper
30	30 April 1877	Charles Matthew Maddock Sarah Cave	Charles Matthew Maddock Sarah Cave 💍 1877/1309	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 17	Trafalgar Street Nelson Harley Street Nelson	3 days 1 year	At the residence of Elizabeth Cave Harley Street Nelson	77/1259	Cave Elizabeth mother	30 April 1877	Rev. Patrick Calder
31	8 May 1877	William Clarkson Jane Boundy	William Clarkson Jane Boundy 💍 1877/1015	Bachelor Spinster	Drapers clerk	24 23	Nile Street East Nelson Shelburne Street Nelson	3 years 10 years	At the Wesleyan Church	77/935		8 May 1877	Rev. Thomas F. Reeve
32	8 May 1877	William Songer Mary Hubbard	William Songer Mary Hubbard 💍 1877/1359	Widower Widow	Farmer	61 61	Stoke Suburban South Richmond Waimea East	34 years 15 years	At St. Barnabas Church Stoke	77/1309		8 May 1877	The Lord Bishop of Nelson
33	19 May 1877	Hugh Gee Emma Henrietta Sedgwick	Hugh Gee Emma Henrietta Grace Sedgwick 💍 1877/1310	Bachelor Widow	Shoe maker	27 26	Collingwood Street Nelson Waimea Street Nelson	3 months 2 years	At the Presbyterian Church	77/1260		19 May 1877	Rev. Patrick Calder
34	23 May 1877	John Powell Ada Emily Adnams	John Powell Ada Emily Adnams 💍 1877/1389	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 24	Wakapuaka Suburban North	25 years 3 months	At Christ Church Nelson	77/1338		23 May 1877	Rev. James Leighton
35	25 May 1877	John Bird Matilda Jane North	John Bird Matilda Jane North 💍 1877/1018	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	27 24	Waimea road Nelson Vanguard Street Nelson	21 years 1 year	At the residence of John Bird Labourer Waimea road Nelson	77/938		25 May 1877	Rev. John Beckenham
36	28 May 1877	Charles Gerrish Haycock Mary Ann Palmer	Charles Gerrish Haycock Mary Ann Palmer 💍 1877/1011	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Hope Waimea East Hope Waimea East	1 month 19 years	At Holy Trinity Church Richmond Waimea East	77/931	Palmer Father	28 May 1877	Rev. Charles O. Mules
37	2 June 1877	William Melville Annie Nesbit	William Melville Annie Nesbit 💍 1877/1016	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	23 19	S.S. Charles Edward Nelson Grove Street Nelson	3 years 19 years	At the residence of William Nesbit Grove Street Nelson	77/936	Nesbit William Father	2 June 1877	Rev. Geo. S. Harper
38	7 June 1877	William Edmond Brown Frances Winsett	William Edmond Brown Frances Wimsett 💍 1877/1044	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer Dress maker	36 23	St. Vincent Street Nelson St. Vincent Street Nelson	1 year 3 days	At the office of the Registrar of marriages Waimea South	77/946		7 June 1877	The Registrar of marriages Waimea South
39	9 June 1877	Alfred Thomas Jones Leah Maria Batchelor	Alfred Thomas Jones Leah Maria Batchelor 💍 1877/1024	Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk	24 21	Nile Street East Nelson Nile Street West Nelson	20 years 4 months	At the office of the Registrar of marriages	77/943		9 June 1877	The Registrar of marriages Nelson
40	11 June 1877	Julius Adolph Hansen Catherine Tannant	Julius Adolph Hansen Catherine Tannant 💍 1877/1017	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 30	Brook Street Nelson Brook Street Nelson	2 years 6 months	At the residence of Joseph Polglaze gardener Brook Street Nelson	77/937		11 June 1877	Rev. John Beckenham
41	16 June 1877	Henry Ching Elizabeth Hannah Jellyman	Henry Ching Elizabeth Hannah Jellyman 💍 1877/1022	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer General Servant	25 19	Stoke Suburban South Stoke Suburban South	25 years 19 years	At the Wesleyan Chapel Stoke Suburban South	77/941	Jellyman Enoch Father	16 June 1877	Rev. Thomas F. Reeve
42	22 June 1877	William Edwin Estcourt Emily Eliza Bartlett	William Edwin Estcourt Emily Eliza Bartlett 💍 1877/1023	Bachelor Spinster	Grocers assistant Domestic Servant	22 18	Collingwood Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	20 years 18 years	At the office of the Registrar of marriages Nelson	77/942	Declaration no person in N.Z. having authority	22 June 1877	The Registrar of marriages Nelson

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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).