Intentions to Marry, 1885

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840397, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 793

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1885

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
15	10 February 1885	Henry Suicent Philip Sarah Ann Evans	Henry Vincent Phillips Sarah Ann Evans 💍 1885/459	Bachelor Spinster	Stockkeeper Milliner	47 33	Bridge Street, Nelson Washington Valley, Nelson	30 years 1 year	All Saints Church	85/1472		10 February 1885	Rev. Charles William Jennings, Church of England
16	11 February 1885	Arthur John Percival Elizabeth Bower Paynter	Arthur John Percival Elizabeth Bower Poynter 💍 1885/454	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist Nil	23 21	Brook Street, Nelson Vanguard Street, Nelson	4 weeks 21 years	All Saints Church	85/1471		11 February 1885	Rev. Charles William Jennings, Church of England
17	13 February 1885	William Devaney Mary Theresa Kavanagh	William Devanny Mary Theresa Kavanagh 💍 1885/502	Bachelor Spinster	Asylum Attendant Nil	28 23	Lunatic Asylum, Nelson South Street, Nelson	3 1/2 years 4 days	St. Mary's Church	85/1483		13 February 1885	Rev. William Smith Mahoney, Roman Catholic Church
18	18 February 1885	William Archer Elizabeth Margaret Harris	William Aisher Elisabeth Margaret Harris 💍 1885/458	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Nil	22 21	Hardy Street, Nelson Tasman Street, Nelson	2 years 21 years	Residence of Henry Mason, Nelson	85/1483		18 February 1885	Rev. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
19	26 February 1885	Richard Nugent Allan Maggie Walker	Richard Nugent Allan Maggie Walker 💍 1885/513	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Nil	34 24	Bridge Street, Nelson Haven Road, Nelson	3 days 1 year	Presbyterian Church	85/1490		26 February 1885	Rev. Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
20	7 March 1885	Patrick Morris Day Magdalen Mary Fanselow	Patrick Maurice Day Magdalen Mary Fanselow 💍 1885/461	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Servant	30 24	Aniseed Valley, Nelson Richmond	7 weeks 5 years	Appleby	85/1474		7 March 1885	Rev. Charles Norris Baker, Church of England
21	14 March 1885	Charles John Monro Helena Beatrice Macdonald	Charles John Monro Helena Beatrice MacDonald 💍 1885/464	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman Nil	33 19	Hardy Street, Nelson Hardy Street, Nelson	5 days 16 years	Christchurch	85/1477	Donald Macdonald, Father	14 March 1885	Rev. Samuel Poole, Church of England
22	23 March 1885	Christopher McDonogh Mary Ann Hammond	Christopher McConogh Mary Ann Hammond 💍 1885/1445	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	35 20	Collingwood Street, Nelson Collingwood Street, Nelson	11 years 2 weeks	St. Mary's Church				See next quarter
23	27 March 1885	Philip Kingston Johanna Maria Elizabeth Beuschmann	Philip Hingston Johanna Maria Elizabeth Bensemann 💍 1885/446	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Nil	22 21	Richmond Upper Moutere	18 months 21 years	Residence of Henry Beuschmann, Upper Moutere	85/1470	No person having the quarter authority	27 March 1885	Rev. John Heathly Nightingale, Church of England
24	30 March 1885	George Holland Georgina Malcolm	George Holland Georgiana Malcolm 💍 1885/1455	Widower Widow	Hop Grower Nil	60 46	Stoke Waimea Road, Nelson	4 days 24 years	All Saints Church	85/1412		30 March 1885	Rev. Francis James Jones, Church of England
25	9 March 1885	George Tregea Annie Ada Elizabeth Brown	George Tregea Annie Ada Elizabeth Bowman 💍 1885/1441	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith Servant	23 18	Hardy Street, Nelson Collingwood Street, Nelson	21 years 2 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson		No person having the quarter authority		See next quarter

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).