Intentions to Marry, 1881

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840393, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

Page 562

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1881

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
77	28 November 1881	Percy Bolland Adams Frances Elizabeth McGregor	Percy Bolland Adams Frances Elizabeth McGregor Watts 💍 1881/2661	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor Nil	27 21	Collingwood Street Brougham Street	4 years 12 years	Christchurch	81/2448	28 November 1881	Revd James Leighton, Church of England
78	3 December 1881	William Anderson Fannie Emma Gill	William Anderson Fanny Emma Gill 💍 1881/2695	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Schoolmistress	23 23	Wakapuaka Wakapuaka	23 years 23 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	81/2459	3 December 1881	Robert Merton, Registrar.
79	5 December 1881	James Hopkins Nevers Delia Richardson	James Hopkins Stevens Delia Richardson 💍 1881/2660 James Hopkins Annie Richardson 💍 1881/3192	Bachelor Spinster	Postmaster Nil	25 22	Van Dieman Street Do	1 week 22 years	Nelson	81/2447	5 December 1881	Revd James Leighton, Church of England
80	8 December 1881	James Burn Elizabeth Jane May	James Burn Elizabeth Jane May 💍 1881/2678	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Nil	24 21	Vincent Street Collingwood Street	14 years 6 years	Residence of Mr May, Nelson	81/2454	8 December 1881	Revd John Beckenham, Congregational Independent Church
81	16 December 1881	Thomas Samuel Grace Rhoda Caroline Bolt	Thomas Samuel Grace Rhoda Caroline Colt 💍 1881/3160	Bachelor Spinster	Minister	31 27	Wanganui Nelson	9 months 3 days	Chapel, Holy Evangelist, Wanganui	81/3191	16 December 1881	Revd A. B. Tudor, Pp. of Nelson, Church of England
82	17 December 1881	Charles Strode Gamble Ellen Rule	Charles Strode Gamble Ellen Rule 💍 1881/2667	Bachelor Spinster	Gardiner	24 21	Bridge Street Wellington Street	2 years 2 years	Residence of Mr Rule, Wellington Street, Nelson	81/2453	17 December 1881	Wm Lee, Wesleyan Church
83	20 December 1881	Robert Win Rose Eliot	Robert Win Rose Eliza Eliot 💍 1881/2689	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	28 24	Dovedale Gloucester Street Nelson	16 years 1 year	Residence of Mrs Hammerich, Gloucester Street, Nelson	81/2458	20 December 1881	Revd John Beckenham, Congregational Independent Church
84	21 December 1881	Alfred Owen Williams Alice Gaster	Alfred Owen Williams Alice Gaster 💍 1881/2354	Bachelor Spinster	Minister Nil	25 31	Bishopdale Auckland	6 years 6 weeks	Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Auckland	81/2423	21 December 1881	Revd B. J. Dudley, Church of England
85	24 December 1881	Thomas Sedman Chisnall Laura Ashburn	Thomas Sedman Chisholm Laura Ashburn 💍 1881/2656	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner Nil	25 21	Bridge Street Hardy Street	22 years 21 years	Residence of Mrs Ashburn, Hardy Street, Nelson	81/2443	24 December 1881	Revd Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
86	24 December 1881	Samuel Gifford Leebertha Gifford		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	44 25	Appleby, Waimea Appleby, Waimea	30 years 4 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson			Certificate not granted.
87	29 December 1881	John Fuller Ann Jane Close	John Fuller Ann Jane Close 💍 1882/477	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	48 30	Wakapuaka Wakapuaka	5 years 20 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	82/419	29 December 1881	Robt Merton, Registrar.
88	29 December 1881	Kenneth Campbell Olivia Rosina Blanche Maud Henderson	Kenneth Campbell Olivia Rosina Blanche Maud Henderson Archibald 💍 1881/2657	Widower Spinster	Insurance Agent Nil	49 28	Nelson Nelson	3 days 1 month	Presbyterian Church, Nelson	82/744	29 December 1881	Revd P. Calder, Presbyterian Church

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).