Intentions to Marry, 1879

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840391, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 506

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1879

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
1	1 January 1879	John George Blackett Elizabeth Charlotte Adams	John George Blackett Elizabeth Charlotte Adams 💍 1879/478	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	26 26	Tasman Street Nelson Trafalgar Street South	4 months 26 years	At Christ Church Nelson	79/350		2 January 1879	Rev. James Leighton
2	2 January 1879	Alfred Gordon Stapp Annie Maria White	Alfred Gordon Stapp Annie Maria White 💍 1879/446	Bachelor Spinster	Dispatch Clerk Telegraph Office	24 21	Hardy Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	8 years 4 years	At the residence of George Stapp settler Hardy Street Nelson	79/341		2 January 1879	Rev. John Beckenham
3	4 January 1879	Robert Leonard Hesseltine Sarah Holland	Robert Leonard Hesseltine Sarah Holland 💍 1879/457	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Station Master	37 30	Waimea East Stoke Suburban South	5 days 30 years	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	79/353		4 January 1879	The Registrar of Marriages Nelson
4	9 January 1879	Hugh Owen Elizabeth Windsor	Hugh Owen Elizabeth Windsor 💍 1879/479	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	41 27	Trafalgar Street Nelson Brook Street Nelson	2 weeks 4 months	At Christ Church Nelson	79/351		9 January 1879	Rev. James Leighton
5	9 January 1879	Adolphus Krause Sarah Blackmore	Adolphus Krause Sarah Ann Blackmore 💍 1879/456	Bachelor Widow	Tanner Lodginghouse Keeper	48 44	Waimea Street Nelson Waimea Street Nelson	8 years 10 years	At the Wesleyan Church Nelson	79/344		9 January 1879	Rev. Ramsford Barrn
6	13 January 1879	Albert Henry Frank Mary Elizabeth Field	Albert Henry Frank Mary Elizabeth Field 💍 1879/444	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner Domestic Servant	23 23	Trafalgar Street Nelson Trafalgar Street Nelson	23 years 3 years	At Saint Marys Catholic Church Nelson	79/339		15 January 1879	Rev. Antoine M. Garin
7	29 January 1879	Jesse Parkinson Eleanor Lea Eban	Jesse Parkinson Eleanor Lee Eban 💍 1879/467	Widower Spinster	Farmer	41 33	Dove Dale Dove Dale	10 years 6 months	At the residence of Christian Hansen Dove Dale Farmer	79/345		29 January 1879	Rev. William Rouse
8	30 January 1879	Thomas Boyes Crooke Elizabeth Starnes	Thomas Boyes Crooke Elizabeth Starnes 💍 1879/3384	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	26 21	Vanguard Street Nelson Lower Moutere	1 year 21 years	At the residence of Stephen Starnes Lower Moutere	79/351		30 January 1879	Rev. Samuel Poole
9	4 February 1879	Patrick James Curran Margaret Alice Beaky	Patrick Curran Margaret Agnes Beakey 💍 1879/442	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner Domestic Servant	28 22	Bridge Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	5 years 4 years	At Saint Marys Catholic Church Nelson	79/338		4 February 1879	Rev. William J. Mahony
10	5 February 1879	John Alexander Orsman Mary Maria O'Hallaran	John Alex Orsman Mary Maria O'Halloran 💍 1879/476	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Cook	25 21	Franklin Street Nelson Franklin Street Nelson	24 years 2 years	At the Chapel of the Holy Evangelists Bishopdale Nelson	79/348		5 February 1879	Rev. Thomas Saml. Grace Junr.
11	13 February 1879	Leonard Henry Jones Agnes Hodgson	Leo Henry Jones Agnes Hodgson 💍 1879/477	Bachelor Spinster	Bookseller	25 27	Collingwood Street Nelson Cambria Street Nelson	3 days 26 years	At All Saints Church Nelson	79/349		13 February 1879	Rev. James Aldridge Newth
12	20 February 1879	Thomas Stevenson Sarah Harrocks	Thomas Stevenson Sarah Horrocks 💍 1879/458	Widower Spinster	Storekeeper Dressmaker	60 46	Hardy Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	3 days 3 days	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	79/354		20 February 1879	The Registrar of Marriages Nelson
13	27 February 1879	William Brown Ellen Saywell	William Frederick Holdaway Ellen Saywell 💍 1879/475	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Domestic Servant	35 17	Richmond Waimea East Richmond Waimea East	3 days 2 weeks	At the residence of Isabella Galbraith Richmond Waimea East	79/346	Galbraith Ann, mother	28 February 1879	Rev. William Rouse
14	3 March 1879	Thomas Ward Evelyn Elsmie Watts	Thomas Ward Evelyn Elsmin Watts 💍 1879/441	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	29 22	Haven Road Nelson Bridge End Nelson	3 days 22 years	At the residence of John Watts Engineer Bridge End Nelson	79/337		3 March 1879	Rev. Patrick Calder
15	7 March 1879	Edward Jackson Dowling Elizabeth Bullick	Edward Jackson Dowling Elizabeth Bullick 💍 1879/1197	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Officer	38 42	Collingwood Street Nelson Brougham Street Nelson	3 days 6 years	At the Chapel of the Holy Evangelists Bishopdale Nelson	79/1160		7 March 1879	C. A. B. Suter Bp.
16	17 March 1879	George Augustus Empson Jane Hughes	George Augustus Empson Jane Hughes 💍 1879/480	Bachelor Spinster	Government Officer	22 22	Collingwood Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	3 days 3 days	At Christ Church Nelson	79/352		17 March 1879	The Bishop of Nelson
17	17 March 1879	William Howes Mary Ann Elizabeth Le Noury	William Howes Mary Ann Elizabeth Le Nowry 💍 1879/459	Bachelor Spinster	Bus-driver Cook	22 19	Haven Road Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	4 months 4 months	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	79/355	Declaration "No person in N.Z. having authority"	19 March 1879	The Registrar of Marriages Nelson
18	18 March 1879	Henry Richardson Ruth Walker	Henry Richardson Ruth Walker 💍 1879/447	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	29 24	Van Dieman Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	29 years 3 years	At the residence of William Brimer Collingwood Street Nelson	79/342		18 March 1879	Rev. John Beckenham
19	19 March 1879	William Frederick Holdaway Ann Galbraith	William Brown Ann Galbraith 💍 1879/474	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 25	Richmond Waimea East Richmond Waimea East	22 years 25 years	At the Wesleyan Chapel Richmond Waimea East	79/347		19 March 1879	Rev. William Rouse

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).