Intentions to Marry, 1883

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840395, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

Page 547

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1883 Registrar Robert Watson

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
17	12 April 1883	Evan Llewellyn Prichard Emma Catherine Godfrey	Evan Llewellyn Prichard Emma Catherine Godfrey 💍 1883/1478	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist Nil	22 20	Trafalgar Street Nelson Halifax Street Nelson	3 days 9 years	Christchurch	83/1211		12 April 1883	Rev. James Leighton, Church of England
18	18 April 1883	George Richard Dayman Mary Ann Andrews	George Richard Dayman Mary Ann Andrews 💍 1883/1952	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Nil	26 23	Newton Street Nelson Melton Street Nelson	20 years 9 years	Residence of Mary Ann Andrews, Melton Street Nelson	83/1208		18 April 1883	Rev. Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
19	5 May 1883	James Harris Elizabeth Lyne Gilbert	James Harris Elizabeth Lyne Gilbert 💍 1883/1460	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Nil	33 18	Waimea Street Nelson Waimea Street Nelson	1 week 1 week	Residence of Joseph R. Gilbert, Waimea Street Nelson	83/1209	Joseph R. Gilbert, father	5 May 1883	Rev. William Lee, Wesleyan Church
20	17 May 1883	Alfred Thorne Phoebe Parks	Alfred Shone Phoebe Parkes 💍 1883/1471	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	23 25	New Street Nelson Tasman Street Nelson	19 years 6 years	Residence of Thomas Hy. Thorne, New Street Nelson	83/1210		17 May 1883	Rev. William Lee, Wesleyan Church
21	19 May 1883	Joseph Jemmens Eleanor Diggens	Joseph Jennens Eleanor Diggens 💍 1883/2033	Widower Widow	Carter Nurse	33 40	Halifax Street Nelson Brook Street Nelson	33 years 3 days	Residence of Joseph Jemmens, Halifax Street Nelson	83/1206		19 May 1883	Rev. John Buckenham, Congregational Church
22	19 May 1883	James John Lockley Euphemia Bruce Pattie	James Colin Lockley Euphemia Bruce Patti 💍 1883/1953	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist Nil	25 30	Wakapuaka Nelson Riwaka	6 years 30 years	Residence of Rev. Pattie Dear, Riwaka	83/Motueka		19 May 1883	Rev. Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
23	26 May 1883	Felix Walter Mary Hailes Mary Elizabeth Ann Bolton	Felix Walter Mary Hailes Mary Elizabeth Anne Bolton 💍 1883/1480	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	33 36	Appleby Waimea Appleby Waimea	3 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church, Waimea West	83/1213		26 May 1883	Rev. William Mahoney, Roman Catholic Church
24	7 June 1883	Robert Henry Wait Alice Louisa Sealy	Robert Henry Wait Alice Louisa Sealy 💍 1883/1950	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	34 29	Wakapuaka Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	28 years 4 months	Chapel of the Holy Evangelist, Bishopdale	83/1207		7 June 1883	A.B. Suter, D.D. Bishop, Church of England
25	11 June 1883	Gardner Hunter Eliza Jane Ellis	Gardner Hunter Eliza Jane Ellis 💍 1883/1954	Widower Widow	Farmer Nil	52 48	Waimea West Bridge Street Nelson	39 years 6 years	Residence of Edward Ellis, Baker, Washington Valley Nelson	83/1208		11 June 1883	Rev. Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
26	19 June 1883	Siegmund Schwartz Emma Buchholtz	Ziegmund Schwartz Emma Buchholz 💍 1883/2032	Bachelor Spinster	Wine Merchant Nil	30 27	Bridge Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	3 days 1 year	Residence of Siegmund Buchholtz, Hardy Street Nelson	83/1205		19 June 1883	Rev. Herman Van Staveren, Hebrew Congregation
27	22 June 1883	George Dodson Sarah Ann Pitcher	George Dobson Sarah Ann Pitcher 💍 1883/2034	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	29 22	Wakapuaka Nelson Wakapuaka Nelson	29 years 22 years	St. Andrew Church, Wakapuaka	83/1204		22 June 1883	Rev. Walter Herbert Ray, 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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).