Intentions to Marry, 1878

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840390, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, March 5 2025

Page 532

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1878

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
85	20 November 1878	Lockyer William (the younger) Tear Elizabeth Jane	Bachelor Spinster	Cabman	19 21	Brook Street Nelson Stoke Suburban South	19 years 21 years	at the residence of Richard Tear, Farmer, Stoke Suburban South	78/2762	Lockyer William, Father	21 November 1878	Rev. John Beckenham
86	21 November 1878	Sherwood William Thomas Betts Alice Bertha	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	23 20	Harper Street Nelson Harley Street Nelson	22 years 20 years	at the residence of Elizabeth Sarah Betts, Widow, Hardy Street Nelson	78/2761	Betts Elizabeth Sarah, mother	21 November 1878	Rev. John Beckenham
87	25 November 1878	Ellaher Thomas Aylward Ellen	Bachelor Spinster	Farm labourer	24 22	Immigration Depot Nelson Immigration Depot Nelson	6 days 6 days	At Saint Marys Catholic Church Nelson	78/2764		25 November 1878	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
88	2 December 1878	Calder Thomas Henry Lankow Frederickia Paulina	Bachelor Spinster	Sail maker	26 21	Haven road Nelson Hope Waimea East	24 years 21 years	at the residence of Henry Lankow, Hope Waimea East	78/2777		2 December 1878	Rev. Patrick Calder
89	5 December 1878	Hoy Samuel Mercer Elizabeth Florence	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	28 21	on board the Steamer Murray The Cliffs Nelson	4 years 4 years	At All Saints Church Nelson	78/2775		5 December 1878	Rev. James Aldridge Newth
90	5 December 1878	Horton Jonathan Coutts Margaret	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	23 19	Trafalgar Street Nelson Victoria Heights Nelson	3 days 2 weeks	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	78/2766	Declaration. No person in N.Z. having authority	5 December 1878	The Registrar of marriages Nelson
91	9 December 1878	Walker Mark Price Ellen	Bachelor Spinster	Hop-grower	39 28	Waimea West Waimea West	23 years 28 years	At St. Michaels Church Waimea West	78/2772		9 December 1878	Rev. Charles Oliver Mules
92	13 December 1878	Heffernan Thomas Alipius Haycock Mary	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 19	Grove Street Nelson Bronte Street Nelson	9 months 2 years	At St. Marys Catholic Church Nelson		Declaration. No person in N.Z. having authority	13 December 1878	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
93	14 December 1878	Andrew William Thomas Hunter Phabe Bekey Newth	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 21	Waimea West Waimea West	3 years 21 years	At St Michaels Church Waimea West	78/2771		14 December 1878	Rev. Charles O. Mules
94	23 December 1878	Primmer George Conrad Patching Emma Jane	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	26 24	[illegible] Vanguard Street Nelson	15 months 17 years	At the residence of James Patching, Brick-maker, Vanguard Street Nelson			23 December 1878	Rev. John Beckenham
95	28 December 1878	McLean Hector Brooks Eliza	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	35 21	Haven road Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	5 days 5 days	At the residence of John Somers, Laborer, Bridge Street Nelson	78/2778		28 December 1878	Rev. Patrick Calder
96	30 December 1878	Heffernan Thomas Alipius Haycock Mary Anne	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 19	Grove Street Nelson Bronte Street Nelson	9 months 2 years	At Saint Marys Catholic Church Nelson	78/340	Declaration. No person in N.Z. having authority	30 December 1878	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
97	30 December 1878	Hesseltine Robert Leonard Holland Sarah	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Station master	37 30	Waimea East Stoke Suburban South	5 days 30 years	At the residence of Sarah Holland, Stoke Suburban South			30 December 1878	Rev. Arthur Henry Sedgwick

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).