Intentions to Marry, 1880

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840392, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 493

District of Nelson Quarter ending Jan - Mar

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	26 January 1880	Frank William Richard Jeed Annie Leightband Jackson	Frank William Richard Seed Annie Lightband Jackson 💍 1880/830	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Official NIL	24 19	Nile Street East Nelson Examiner Street Nelson	5 weeks 12 years	Christchurch	80/269		26 January 1880	Andrew Burn DD Bishop of Nelson
2	5 February 1880	Frederick John Harvey Fanny Jane Kenning	Frederick John Harvey Fanny Jane Kenning 💍 1880/843	Bachelor Spinster	Miner NIL	31 24	Wainea Street Nelson Wainuia Street Nelson	3 days 2 months	At the residence of William Kenning Work[UNCLEAR] Suburban [UNCLEAR]	80/258	Henry Douglas Jackson Father	5 Feby 1880	Revd Rainsford Bavin
3	9 February 1880	George Capper Christiana Newport	George Capper Christiana Newport 💍 1880/1681	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist NIL	24 23	Grove Street Nelson Brook Street Nelson	4 days 23 years	Chapel of Holy Evangelist Bishopdale	80/273		9 Feby 1880	Andrew Burn DD Bishop of Nelson
4	18 February 1880	James Edward Cresswell Jessie Rose	James Edward Cresswell Jessie Rose 💍 1880/844	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Teacher	21 21	Stoke Suburban South Shelbourne Street Nelson	21 years 5 years	at residence [UNCLEAR] John Rose, Shelbourne Street, Nelson	80/259	John Rose Shelbourne his	18 Feby 1880	Revd Rainsford Bavin
5	24 February 1880	Richard Thomas Emily Jane Hill	Richard Thomas Emily Jane Hill 💍 1880/845	Bachelor Spinster	Cab Proprietor NIL	25 25	Vanguard Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	7 years 7 years	Residence of [UNCLEAR] Thomas, Vanguard Street, Nelson	80/260	his	24 Feby 1880	Theo Rainsford Bavin
6	28 February 1880	Henry Mellett Martha Gillett	Henry Mellett Martha Gillett 💍 1880/831	Bachelor Spinster	Cab Driver Cook	37 29	Waimea Road Nelson Manuka Street Nelson	5 years 10 years	Christchurch Nelson	80/270		28 Feby 1880	Revd James Leighten
7	5 March 1880	Robert William Newart Mary Connor	Robert William Steuart Mary O'Connor 💍 1880/811	Widower Spinster	Carpenter NIL	28 29	Colllingwood Street Nelson Wainuia West Nelson	15 years 29 years	[UNCLEAR] Protestant Church [UNCLEAR] Catholic Church Wainuia West	80/279		5 March 1880	Rev.d William Mahoney
8	9 March 1880	Henry Collins Elizabeth Venn	Henry Collins Elizabeth Verran 💍 1880/835 George Collins Elizabeth Marshall 💍 1880/2637	Bachelor Widow	Labourer NIL	35 31	Bridge Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	3 days 1 year	at the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	80/274		9 March 1880	Robert Kirton Registrar
9	15 March 1880	Ruben Everdl Robertson Emma Phieza Old	Reuben Eilerdt Robinson Emma Thirza Old 💍 1880/846	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Dressmaker	39 23	Nile Street East Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	4 days 1 year	Residence of Emma Phieza Old, Dressmaker, Hardy St. Nelson	80/261		15 March 1880	Revd Rainsford Bavin
10	17 March 1880	Richard Thomas Goodwin Annie Coy	Richard Thomas Goodwin Annie Cox 💍 1880/832	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker NIL	20 21	Haven Road Nelson Haven Road Nelson	20 years 9 months	Residence of [UNCLEAR] J. Beckenham Wainuia St Nelson	80/271	William [UNCLEAR] Groom, Father	17 March 1880	Revd John Beckenham
11	23 March 1880	Phillip Alfred Rive Annie Elizabeth Lusford	Phillip Alfred Rive Annie Elizabeth Luxford 💍 1880/847	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper NIL	26 22	Grove Street Nelson Grove Street Nelson	3 days 1 year	Residence of [UNCLEAR] [UNCLEAR], Hillside Villa, The Wood, Nelson	80/262		23 March 1880	Revd Rainsford Bavin
12	24 March 1880	John Hawksworth Hannath Rusherford	John Hawksworth Harriet Rutherford 💍 1880/829	Bachelor Spinster	Police Constable NIL	36 20	Harley Street Nelson Budge Street Nelson	17 months 18 months	Residence of John Hawksworth, Police Constable [UNCLEAR] Street Nelson	80/268	Andrew [UNCLEAR] father	24 March 1880	Revd Patrick Calder

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).