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 552

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1883 Registrar Robt. Nelson

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
61	1 December 1883	Henry Baker Annie Sullivan	Henry Baker Annie Sullivan 💍 1883/2835	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Dressmaker	23 21	Haven Road Nelson Tasman Street Nelson	18 years 11 years	Congregational Church, Nelson	83/12984		1 December 1883	Rev. John Beckenham, Congregational Church
62	3 December 1883	Herbert Westmacott Ada Janet Defree	Herbert Westmacott Ada Janet Depree 💍 1883/2942	Bachelor Spinster	Managing Station Nil	41 26	Wakapuaka Nelson Wakapuaka Nelson	3 days 3 days	Hillside Church, Wakapuaka	83/12940		3 December 1883	Revd. Walter Herbert Kay, Church of England
63	4 December 1883	Colin Campbell Elizabeth Martha Wright	Colin Campbell Elizabeth Martha Wright Mackay 💍 1883/2937	Bachelor Divorced	Gentleman Nil	27 38	Russell Street Nelson Russell Street Nelson	2 years 6 years	Residence of Colin Campbell, legally married by Registrar	83/12964		4 December 1883	Mr. Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
64	6 December 1883	Reuben Bird Annie Dick Wilkie	Reuben Bird Annie Dick Wilkie 💍 1883/2939	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	33 24	Trafalgar Street Nelson Trafalgar Street Nelson	33 years 3 days	Residence of Groom, And Trafalgar Street Nelson	83/12966		6 December 1883	Revd. Edward Charles Nightingale, Church of England
65	6 December 1883	John Robert Burge Mary Elizabeth Antice	John Robert Burge Mary Elizabeth Anstice 💍 1883/2814	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Employee Nil	28 25	Belgrove Hardy Street Nelson	2 years 15 years	Residence of John Wakefield, Brook Street	83/12985		6 December 1883	Revd. John Beckenham, Congregational Church
66	10 December 1883	Daniel Allanice Ruth Bradshaw	Daniel Aldridge Ruth Bradshaw 💍 1883/2815	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Nil	21 17	Halifax Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	21 years 17 years	Residence of Thomas Bradshaw, Collingwood Street Nelson	83/12986	Thomas Bradshaw, Father	10 December 1883	Revd. John Beckenham, Congregational Church
67	10 December 1883	George Hove Frances Mary Manning	George Rowe Frances Mary Manning 💍 1883/2816	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Master Cook	24 24	Washington Valley Nelson Brook Street Nelson	22 years 14 years	Residence of George Hove, Manning, Waimea Road, Nelson	83/12987		10 December 1883	Revd. John Beckenham, Congregational Church
68	14 December 1883	George Cave Alice Eliza Parmenter	George Cave Alice Eliza Parmenter 💍 1883/2818	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Nil	21 20	Hope Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	21 years 10 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	83/12989	Jno. Parmenter, Father	14 December 1883	Registrar, Robert Nelson
69	15 December 1883	Frederick Schroeder Augusta Elizabeth Sophia Slade	Frederick Schroder Augusta Elizabeth Sophia Stade 💍 1884/390	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	25 20	Hope, Waimea Waimea, Waimea	25 years 20 years	Lutheran Church, Nangan	84/1391	John Slade, Father	15 December 1883	Revd. Herman Wilhelm Knoell, Lutheran Church
70	18 December 1883	Thomas Gaville Henderson Susan Bissett Ranken	Thomas Saville Henderson Susan Bisset Raikes 💍 1883/2819	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant Nil	31 26	Waimea Road Nelson Kawai Street Nelson	4 days 6 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	83/12990		18 December 1883	Registrar, Robert Nelson
71	20 December 1883	Edward Percy Palmer Minnie Eliza Moutt	Edward Percy Palmer Minnie Eliza Rout 💍 1883/2946	Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk Teacher	22 18	Stoke Waimea Stoke Waimea	7 years 7 years	St. Barnabas Church, Stoke	83/12973	William Moutt, Father	20 December 1883	John Buckley Nightingale, Church of England
72	22 December 1883	Albert Henry Cornwall Annie Dora Sophia Sugden	Albert Henry Cresswell Alice Dora Sophia Sigglekow 💍 1883/2824	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Nil	22 20	Stoke Waimea Stoke Waimea	22 years 20 years	Wesleyan Church, Richmond	83/12977	Jno. Sugden, Father	22 December 1883	Revd. William Kirk, Wesleyan Church
73	28 December 1883	Thomas Hunt Maud Elizabeth Faulks	Thomas Hunt Maud Elizabeth Fairhall 💍 1883/2945	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Nil	31 21	Bridge Street Nelson Nile Street Nelson	3 days 3 days	Christchurch, Nelson	83/12972		28 December 1883	Revd. James Leighton, Church of England
74	29 December 1883	George Francis French Mary Ann Perran	George Francis Frew Mary Ann Perrin 💍 1884/391	Bachelor Spinster	Wood Turner Nil	24 23	Tasman Street Nelson Tasman Street Nelson	1 year 5 years	Residence of the same	84/392		29 December 1883	Revd. William Lee, Wesleyan 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 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).