Intentions to Marry, 1875

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840387, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

This register is quite fragile and some of the pages are damaged or even missing.

Page 421

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1875

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
25	3 April 1875	Trass George Seymour Caroline Mary	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Grove Street Nelson Grove Street Nelson	3 days 3 days	At the residence of Henry Young, Carpenter, Grove Street Nelson	75/860		3 April 1875	Revd Decimus Dolamore
26	6 April 1875	Gasson George Jennens Emma Louisa	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	35 22	Grove Street Nelson Grove Street Nelson	2 weeks 10 years	At the residence of Charles Jennens, Labourer, Grove Street Nelson	75/861		6 April 1875	Revd Decimus Dolamore
27	6 April 1875	Taylor Thomas Richard Heywood Goddard Emma Hobbs	Bachelor Widow	Boatbuilder	27 30	Russell Street Nelson Russell Street Nelson	6 months 6 years	Russell Street Nelson	75/1141		6 April 1875	Revd Thomas Buddle
28	8 April 1875	Siggs Henry John Christian Holtz August Dorothea Fredrika	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 17	Waimea East Waimea East	25 years 2 months	At the Lutheran Church, Ranzau	75/863	Lange Maria, mother	8 April 1875	Revd Christian F Meyer
29	9 April 1875	Protheroe Thomas Richards Elizabeth	Bachelor Spinster	Ostler	26 23	St John Street Nelson St John Street Nelson	4 months 2 weeks	At the residence of Thomas Protheroe, Ostler, St John Street Nelson	75/1142		9 April 1875	Revd Thomas Buddle
30	12 April 1875	Phillips William Constable Harriett	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	33 20	Bridge Street Nelson Nile Street East Nelson	8 years 16 years	At the Wesleyan Church, Hardy Street Nelson	75/1144	Constable Frederick, Father	12 April 1875	Revd Thomas Buddle
31	13 April 1875	Coburn Thomas Brydne Berry Emma Mary	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	21 18	Brook Street Nelson Suburban North	7 months 2 weeks	At the Wesleyan Church, Hardy Street Nelson	75/1143	Berry Henry, Father	13 April 1875	Revd Thomas Buddle
32	17 April 1875	Spotswood James Hassett Annie	Widower Widow	Mariner	35 33	Gloucester Street Nelson Gloucester Street Nelson	3 months 1 year	At the Manse, Presbyterian Church, Nelson	75/2031		17 April 1875	Revd Patrick Calder
33	5 May 1875	Wilson Abraham Funnell Catherine	Bachelor Spinster	Messenger Bank of N.Z.	41 24	Trafalgar Street Nelson St Vincent Street Nelson	6 years 6 days	At the residence of Frederick Spear, Storeman, Nile Street East Nelson	75/862		5 May 1875	Revd Decimus Dolamore
34	6 May 1875	Hickey Thomas Hodgers Mary Jane	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 21	Bridge Street Nelson Dove Dale Waimea West	3 days 7 years	At the residence of Michael Hodgers, Carpenter, Dove Dale	75/1590		6 May 1875	Revd Antoine Marie Garin
35	8 May 1875	Newport Henry Betts Henrietta	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 19	Hardy Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	2 years 6 years	At the residence of Alfred George Betts, Storekeeper, Hardy Street Nelson	75/1373	Betts Alfred George, Father	8 May 1875	Richd Joshua Thorpe Revd
36	12 May 1875	Simpson David Mercer Ruth	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper Domestic Servant	22 21	Washington road Nelson Nile Street East Nelson	22 years 2 years	At the residence of David Simpson, Washington road Nelson	75/2032		12 May 1875	Revd Patrick Calder
37	12 May 1875	Gifford Thomas Garish Keziah	Widower Spinster	Yeoman Matron Lunatic Asylum Nelson	45 36	Waimea East Waimea road Nelson	3 days 1 year	Holy Trinity Church, Richmond	75/1090		12 May 1875	Revd Richard Joshua Thorpe
38	15 May 1875	McGavin Thomas Betts Elizabeth	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Dress maker	37 23	Haven road Nelson Church Street Nelson	6 years 1 year	At the residence of Alfred George Betts, Hardy Street Nelson	75/1372		15 May 1875	Revd Richard Joshua Thorpe
39	25 May 1875	Hummer Franz Gottfried Hermann Rooke Mia Renetta Hesketh	Widower Spinster	Merchant	32 22	Collingwood Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	3 days 2 months	At St Andrews Church, Hillside	75/1349		25 May 1875	Revd Richard Joshua Thorpe
40	25 May 1875	Dobb George Morton Burns Elizabeth Logan	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	30 23	Trafalgar Street Nelson Washington Road Nelson	3 days 23 years	At the residence of Frances Burns, widow, Washington road Nelson	75/1315		25 May 1875	Revd Patrick Calder
41	27 May 1875	Vedova Matthew Della Lester Eliza Annie	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 32	Waimea Street Nelson Waimea Street Nelson	3 months 3 months	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	75/1141		27 May 1875	The Registrar of Marriages Nelson
42	3 June 1875	Primmer John William Patching Mary	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Milliner	25 21	Richmond East Trafalgar Street Nelson	25 years 2 weeks	At the residence of James Patching, Joi Joi Valley	75/1145		3 June 1875	Revd William Steall

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).