Intentions to Marry, 1884

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840396, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 630

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1884

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
1	8 January 1884	Alexander Hendry Priscilla Patching	Alexander Hindry Priscilla Patching 💍 1884/384	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Nil	24 22	St Vincent Street Nelson St Vincent Street Nelson	4 1/2 years 22 years	Residence of James Patching St Vincent Street Nelson	84/408		8 January 1884	Rev. John Beckenham Congregational Church
2	9 January 1884	William Strange Elizabeth Rowe	William Strange Elizabeth Rowe 💍 1884/385	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman Nil	21 20	Milton Street Nelson Vanguard Street Nelson	9 years 20 years	Residence of James Strange Milton Street Nelson	84/409	Ann Rowe mother	9 January 1884	Rev. John Beckenham Congregational Church
3	10 January 1884	James Disher Eliza Wise	James Disher Eliza Wise 💍 1884/380	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Manager Servant	31 25	Trafalgar Street Nelson Trafalgar Street Nelson	25 years 6 years	Presbyterian Church Nelson	84/405		10 January 1884	Rev. Patrick Calder Presbyterian Church
4	4 February 1884	Ernest Henry Godolphin Quicke Adelaide Mary Colliers	Ernest Henry Godolphin Quicke Adelaide Mary Collins 💍 1884/387	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman Nil	29 22	Wakapuaka Nelson Wakapuaka Nelson	3 days 22 years	Hillside Church Wakapuaka	84/1411		4 February 1884	Rev. John Chapman Andrew Church of England
5	4 February 1884	George William Newman Lilian Emily Williams	George William Remnant Lilian Emily Williams 💍 1884/395	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	24 22	Bridge Street Nelson Alton Street Nelson	4 days 4 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages Nelson	84/396		4 February 1884	Robert Norton Registrar
6	6 February 1884	Joseph Pearson Alice Emily Browning	Joseph Pearson Alice Emily Browning 💍 1884/383	Bachelor Spinster	Timber Merchant Nil	27 20	Oxford Canterbury Maitai Bank Nelson	27 years 4 years	Chapel of Holy Evangelists Nelson	84/390	John Samuel Browning father	6 February 1884	Rev. Edward Nightingale Church of England
7	11 February 1884	Arthur Pritchard Lucas Fanny Louisa Spooner	Arthur Pritchard Lucas Fanny Louisa Spooner 💍 1884/392	Bachelor Widow	Printer Nil	20 30	Britannia Heights Nelson Wellington Terrace Nelson	20 years 2 years	Wesleyan Church Nelson	84/393	Anne Lucas mother (widow)	11 February 1884	Rev. William Lee Wesleyan Minister
8	12 February 1884	Charles Philip Harford Alice Mary Robinson	Charles Philip Harford Alice Mary Robinson 💍 1884/386	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	23 23	Richmond Waimea Richmond Waimea	4 days 6 days	Residence of Robert Robinson Farmer Richmond	84/410		12 February 1884	Rev. William Kirk Wesleyan Minister
9	14 February 1884	Charles Truman Anne Jennings	Charles Truman Anne Jennings 💍 1884/393	Bachelor Spinster	Overseer Dressmaker	47 44	Cambria Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	18 years 20 years	Residence of Mrs. Wm. Jennings Collingwood Street Nelson	84/394		14 February 1884	Rev. William Lee Wesleyan Minister
10	18 February 1884	James Galvin Johannah Connell	James Galvin Johannah OConnell 💍 1884/374	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	26 28	Richmond Waimea Richmond Waimea	4 days 14 days	St Mary Catholic Church Nelson	84/399		18 February 1884	Rev. William Joseph Mahony Roman Catholic Church
11	20 February 1884	Arthur Stock Muriel Adelia Clara Elmina Ruffell	Arthur Stock Menelia Adelin Clara Elmira Ruffell 💍 1884/375	Bachelor Spinster	Shoe maker Nil	21 19	Haven Road Nelson Richmond Waimea	21 years 19 years	Residence of Henry Ruffell Waimea Nelson	84/400	Henry Ruffell father	20 February 1884	Rev. Patrick Calder Presbyterian Church
12	23 February 1884	Thomas Sutton Ellen Mercer	Thomas Sutton Ellen Mercer 💍 1884/381	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	25 17	Richmond Waimea Grove Street Nelson	25 years 10 years	All Saints Church Nelson	84/406	George Mercer father	23 February 1884	Rev. Francis James Jones Church of England
13	27 February 1884	Nathaniel Longney Louisa Bahman	Nathaniel Longney Louisa Bateman 💍 1884/396	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer Nil	25 21	Stoke Waimea Stoke Waimea	4 days 4 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages Nelson	84/397		27 February 1884	Robert Norton Registrar
14	10 March 1884	Alfred Holland Caroline Trent	Alfred Holland Caroline Trent 💍 1884/373	Bachelor Widow	Gentleman Nil	59 44	Bridge Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	7 days 7 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages Nelson	84/398		10 March 1884	Robert Norton Registrar

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).