Intentions to Marry, 1882

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840394, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 570

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1882

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
60	3 October 1882	Thomas Barnett Frances Blutterbuck	Thomas Barnett Frances Clutterbuck 💍 1882/3278	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	35 19	Waimea Road Nelson Waimea Road Nelson	5 Months 12 years	Residence of [illegible] Waimea Road	82/2955		3 October 1882	Rev John Beckenham Congregational Church
61	13 October 1882	William Butler Robinson Louisa Esther Head	William Butler Robinson Louisa Esther Read 💍 1882/3285	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	25 24	Richmond Waimea Richmond Waimea	5 years 8 years	Holy Trinity Church Richmond	82/2963	Lydia Lothian, Mother	13 October 1882	Rev W. Atkinny Whyte Church of England
62	27 October 1882	Philip Topless Juliet Alice Doyle	Philip Topliss Juliet Alice Doyle 💍 1882/3293	Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk Nil	32 20	Nile Street East Nelson Waimea Street Nelson	5 years 7 years	Christchurch Nelson	82/2947	Helen Lyon Doyle, mother	27 October 1882	Rev James Leighton Church of England
63	3 November 1882	Frederick Wetty Henrietta Kruse	Frederick Webby Henriette Kruse 💍 1882/3298	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	23 20	Hope, Waimea Hope, Waimea	23 years 15 years	Lutheran Church	82/2952	Sophia Maria Bardine Kruse, mother	3 November 1882	Rev Hermann Wilhelm Lutheran Church
64	6 November 1882	Albert Hammond Bendall Nellie Louisa Leader	Albert Seammen Bendall Nellie Louisa Fowler 💍 1882/123	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Nil	26 23	Bridge Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	16 months 3 days	Residence of Mr Daniel Bedford Washington Valley	82/2961		6 November 1882	Rev Francis Prince Jones Church of England
65	8 November 1882	Thomas Henry Jones Florence Freeth	Thomas Henry Jones Florence Freeth 💍 1882/3296	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Dressmaker	25 21	Collingwood Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	3 years 1 week	Residence of Mr A Jones, Washington	82/2950		8 November 1882	Rev William Lee Wesleyan Church
66	16 November 1882	Charles Arthur Palmer Janet New	Charles Arthur Palmer Janet Kerr 💍 1882/3284	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	24 23	Waimea West Waimea West	24 years 23 years	Residence of James [illegible] Waimea West	82/2962		16 November 1882	Rev Edward Thears Church of England
67	21 November 1882	Thomas Marshall Lowe Hannah Atkinson	Thomas Marshall Lowe Hannah Robinson 💍 1882/3279	Widower Spinster	Gardiner Nil	42 40	Washington Road Nelson Russell Street Nelson	42 years 40 years	Residence of John Robinson, Engineer	82/2956		21 November 1882	Rev John Beckenham Congregational Church
68	4 December 1882	Frederick William Haybittle Sarah Louisa Attree	Frederick William Haybittle Sarah Louisa Aitken 💍 1882/3297	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Nil	22 25	Collingwood Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	3 days 12 years	Residence of G. Norrie, Hardy Street	82/2957		4 December 1882	Rev William Lee Wesleyan Church
69	6 December 1882	James Lassers Emma Belton	James Garner Emma Cotton 💍 1882/3280	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	22 21	Washington Valley Nelson Grove Street Nelson	3 weeks 21 years	Residence of Mr Henry Belton Washington Valley	82/2954		6 December 1882	Rev John Beckenham Congregational Church
70	13 December 1882	George James Emma Wilkie	George James Emma Wilks 💍 1882/3281	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	23 22	Brook Street Nelson Brook Street Nelson	9 days 22 years	Residence of George Wilkie, Brook Street	82/2958		13 December 1882	Rev John Beckenham Congregational Church
71	19 December 1882	James Way Charlotte Maria Friend	James Way Charlotte Maria Friend 💍 1882/3282	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	23 18	Bridge Street Nelson Ngatitama Street Nelson	23 years 3 years	Residence of Mr H.J. Friend Ngatitama Street	82/2959	Harriet Louisa Friend, mother	19 December 1882	Rev John Beckenham Congregational Church
72	20 December 1882	John Charles Williams Elizabeth Harvey Frought	John Charles Williams Elizabeth Harvey Forsyth 💍 1882/3294	Bachelor Spinster	Linesman Nil	39 23	Hardy Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	11 days 11 years	Christchurch Nelson	82/2948		20 December 1882	Rev James Leighton Church of England
73	21 December 1882	Sidney James Best Eugenie Fanny Leone Berammen	Sidney James Cook Eugenie Fanny Jessie Desaunais 💍 1882/3295	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Nil	20 20	Richmond Waimea Toi Toi Valley Nelson	11 months 11 months	Residence of Captain L. Berammen Toi Toi Valley	82/2949	Eugene Pascal Berammen, father	24 December 1882	Rev James Leighton Church of England

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 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).