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 561

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
65	1 October 1881	George Cornelius Shaw Sarah Jane Mills	George Cornelius Shaw Sarah Jane Mills 💍 1881/2658	Bachelor Spinster	Rope maker Nil	21 20	Collingwood Street Nelson Brook Street Valley Nelson	21 years 20 years	Residence of Mr Joseph Mills, Brook Street Valley, Nelson	81/2445	Joseph Mills, father	October 1	Revd James Leighton Church of England
66	4 October 1881	John Cunningham Amy Thorpe Lucas	John Cunninghame Amy Thorpe Lucas 💍 1881/2664	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Nil	23 22	Washington Valley Nelson Britannia Heights Nelson	2 years 22 years	The Wesleyan Church, Nelson	81/2451		October 4	Revd William Lee Wesleyan Church
67	7 October 1881	Arthur Henry Bowater Louisa Ellen Hill	Arthur Henry Bosworth Louisa Ellen Hill 💍 1881/2663	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	23 23	New Plymouth Waimea Street Nelson	20 years 23 years	Residence of Isaac [illegible] Mason	81/2450		October 7	Revd Thos. L. Bowden Church of England
68	19 October 1881	Arthur Fritzwilliam Jane Crisp	Arthur Fitzwilliams Jane Crisp 💍 1881/2666	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Nil	24 26	Church Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	1 Month 26 years	Residence of Benjamin Crisp	81/2452		Oct 19	Revd William Lee Wesleyan Church
69	21 October 1881	George Henry Smith Edith Haycock	George Henry Smith Edith Haycock 💍 1881/2670	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	21 20	Richmond Hope	9 Months 2 years	Residence of George Blincoe	81/2456	No person having authority	Nov 4	Revd John Beckenham Congregational Independent Church
70	31 October 1881	Henry Stephen Crocker Ellen Cooke	Henry Stephen Crocker Ellen Cooke 💍 1881/2659	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Nil	24 21	Grove Street Nelson Manuka Street Nelson	3 days 2 years	Christchurch Nelson	81/2446		Oct 31	Revd Samuel Poole M.A. Church of England
71	5 November 1881	Joseph Hugh McAlister Constance Alma Stanton	Joseph Hugh McAlister Constance Alma Stanton 💍 1881/2696	Bachelor Spinster	Postmaster Nil	27 27	Nile Street East Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	18 days 2 years	St Mary's Catholic Church Nelson	[illegible]		Nov 5	Revd William Mahoney Roman Catholic Church
72	7 November 1881	William Rowling Annie Cumming	William Rowling Annie Cummings 💍 1881/2662	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	24 24	New Street Nelson Wakapuaka	1 week 1 week	St Peter's Church Wakapuaka	81/2449		Nov 7	Revd Alfred Owen Williams Church of England
73	8 November 1881	Benjamin Budden Phoebe Miranda Holdaway	Benjamin Budden Phoebe Marinda Holdaway 💍 1881/2669	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	24 23	Richmond Richmond	4 days 23 years	Residence of John Holdaway	81/2455		Nov 8	Revd Joseph Berry Wesleyan Church
74	8 November 1881	Joseph Hugh McAlister Constance Alma Stanton	Joseph Hugh McAlister Constance Alma Stanton 💍 1881/2696	Bachelor Spinster	Postmaster Nil	27 27	Nile Street East Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	20 days 2 years	Residence of W. M. Stanton Collingwood Street Nelson	81/2460		Nov 8	Revd William Mahoney Roman Catholic Church
75	10 November 1881	Isaac Taylor Anna Fredericke Charlotte Hoffman	Isaac Taylor Anna Friederike Charlotte Hofmann 💍 1881/2668	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 21	Washington Valley Nelson Washington Valley Nelson	2 1/4 years 7 days	Residence of Revd C. Heine, Upper Moutere	81/2457		Nov 10	Revd John William C. Heine Lutheran Church
76	21 November 1881	John Martin Croucher Mathilda Kunigunde Gustava Kelling	John Martin Croucher Matilda Kunigunda Gustava Kelling 💍 1881/2697	Widower Spinster	Miller & Baker Teacher	38 34	Richmond Waimea Pangau Waimea	17 years 34 years	Lutheran Church Pangau	81/2461		Nov 21	Revd W. A. W. H. W. Stoepler Church of England Lutheran

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).