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 425

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1875 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
64	7 October 1875	Charles Smith Mary Jane Mercer	Charles Smith Mary Jane Mercer 💍 1875/2452	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer NIL	38 30	Collingwood Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	3 weeks 1 year	At the residence of said Charles Smith Collingwood Street Nelson	75/2641		7 October 1875	Revd. Thomas Buddle
65	7 October 1875	William Fenemor Sophia Maria Dorothea Claausen	William Fennemore Sophia Maria Dorothea Claansen 💍 1875/2240	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer NIL	24 19	Upper Moutere Upper Moutere	1 week 3 years	At the residence of The Revd. Edward Thomas Manuka Street Nelson	75/2321	Claausen Heinrich Carl Christian (FATHER)	7 October 1875	Revd. Edward Thomas
66	12 October 1875	John Leitch Emma Jane Kenney	John Leitch Emma Jane Henney 💍 1875/2970	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman NIL	23 18	Harley Sheet Nelson Waimea road Nelson	9 months 8 months	At Trinity Church Nile Sheet East Nelson	75/2902	Kenney Emma (MOTHER)	12 October 1875	Revd. Patrick Calder
67	20 October 1875	Robert Collings Tennent Emily Mary Boor	Robert Collings Tennent Emily Mary Boor 💍 1875/3015	Bachelor Spinster	Bank manager NIL	26 19	Collingwood Sheet Nelson Waimea road Nelson	3 days 3 years	All Saints Church Nelson	75/2425	Boor Leonard George (FATHER)	20 October 1875	Revd. Richd. Joshua Thorpe
68	21 October 1875	Thomas Henry Bannetr Jessie Maria Meech	Thomas Henry Bannehr Jessie Maria Meech 💍 1875/3016	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant NIL	25 23	Shakespeare Walk Nelson Russell Sheet Nelson	6 years 13 years	At All Saints Church Nelson	75/2426		21 October 1875	Revd. Richd. Joshua Thorpe
69	22 October 1875	Hans Heinrich Busch Wilhelmina Sophia Louisa Kruse	Hans Heinrich Busch Wilhelmina Sophia Louisa Kruse 💍 1875/2242	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	20 22	Aniseed Valley Waimea East Ranzau Waimea East	20 years 1 month	At the Lutheran Church Ranzau	75/2323	Busch Dorothea Sophia Maria (MOTHER)	22 October 1875	Revd. Christian Friedrich Majer
70	27 October 1875	Peter Coutts Jemima Jamieson	Peter Coutts Jemima Jamieson 💍 1875/2453	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	35 32	Harley Sheet Nelson Harley Street Nelson	2 weeks 12 months	At the residence of Peter Coutts Harley Street Nelson	75/2642		27 October 1875	Revd. Thomas Buddle
71	27 October 1875	Albert Davis Catherine Fawkes	Albert Davis Catherine Fawkes 💍 1875/2561	Widower Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	32 34	Nile Sheet East Nelson Collingwood Sheet Nelson	3 years 18 months	At Christ Church Nelson	75/2483		27 October 1875	Revd. James Leighton
72	3 November 1875	Peter Frederick Henry Pahl Mary ann Foy	Peter Frederick Henry Pahl Mary Ann Roy 💍 1875/2971	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker NIL	35 39	Bridge Sheet Nelson Franklin Sheet Nelson	3 days 10 years	At the residence of John Edwards "Thistle Inn" Bridge Street Nelson	75/2903		3 November 1875	Revd. Patrick Calder
73	13 November 1875	Robert Dixon Elizabeth Wakeford	Robert Dixon Elizabeth Wakeford 💍 1875/2237	Widower Widow	Farmer Boarding house keeper	54 48	Collingwood Sheet Nelson Collingwood Sheet Nelson	3 weeks 16 years	At the residence of Robert Gray Dairyman Bridge Street Nelson	75/2319		13 November 1875	Revd. Decimus Dolamore
74	13 November 1875	Henry James Gilbert Elizabeth Duncan	Henry James Gilbert Elizabeth Duncan 💍 1875/2241	Widower Widow	Coachman NIL	31 32	South Street Nelson South Street Nelson	8 years 12 years	At the residence of The Revd. Edward Thomas Manuka Street Nelson	75/2322		13 November 1875	Revd. Edward Thomas
75	15 November 1875	William Matthews Emily Sara Wood	William Matthews Emily Sara Wood 💍 1875/2562	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk P.O. NIL	27 26	Hardy Sheet Nelson Stoke Suburban South	3 days 3 months	At Christ Church Nelson	75/2484		15 November 1875	The Bishop of Nelson
76	20 November 1875	Thomas John Baigens Alice Best	Thomas John Baigent Alice Best 💍 1875/2243	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller NIL	26 21	Appleby Waimea East Appleby Waimea East	3 days 21 years	At St. Albans Church Appleby	75/2324		20 November 1875	The Bishop of Nelson
77	23 November 1875	George Henry Kidson Martha Kite	George Henry Kidson Martha Kite 💍 1875/3017	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	23 21	Russell Sheet Nelson Nile Sheet East Nelson	9 years 3 days	At All Saints Church Nelson	75/2720		23 November 1875	The Venble. Archdeacon Thorpe
78	30 November 1875	Eleazer Edward Sims Elizabeth Clifford	Cleason Edward Sims Elizabeth Clifford 💍 1875/2972	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Dressmaker	30 17	aboard the Steamer 'Barkly Lady' Haven road Nelson	12 months 4 years	At the residence of James Blanche Laborer Haven Road Nelson	75/2904	Blanche Mary (MOTHER)	30 November 1875	Revd. Patrick Calder
79	1 December 1875	Samuel Willard Nicholls Hannah Caroline Elsley	Samuel Willard Nicholl Hannah Caroline Elsley 💍 1875/2236	Widower Spinster	Publican Domestic Servant	40 21	Haven road Nelson Brook Street Nelson	10 days 6 weeks	At the residence of Elizabeth Dixon Collingwood Street Nelson	75/2318		1 December 1875	Revd. Decimus Dolamore
80	9 December 1875	Edward Thomas Martha Lock	Edward Thomas Martha Lock 💍 1875/2973	Widower Spinster	Minister of the Gospel NIL	72 21	Manuka Sheet Nelson Waimea Street Nelson	10 years 5 years	At the residence of The Revd. Edward Thomas Manuka Sheet Nelson	75/2905		9 December 1875	Revd. Patrick Calder
81	14 December 1875	Edward Frederic St. John Annie Maria Rout	Edward Frederick St John Annie Maria Rout 💍 1875/2743	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant NIL	22 21	Milton Street Nelson Stoke Suburban South	10 months 4 years	At St. Barnabas Church Stoke	75/2999		14 December 1875	Revd. John Pratt Kempshorn

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).