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 784

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 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
73	9 October 1885	Charles Henry Howard Eva Florence Kingswell	Charles Henry Howard Eva Florence Kingswell 💍 1885/3114	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor Nil	28 25	Dunedin The Port, Nelson	1 year 7 months	All Saints' Church, Dunedin	85/3286		9 October 1885	Right Revd. D. Suter, Church of England
74	19 October 1885	John Caldwell Gibbs Esther Brooks	John Caldwell Gibbs Esther Brooks 💍 1885/3180	Bachelor Spinster	Minister Servant	38 22	Bridge Street, Nelson Bridge Street, Nelson	11 days 7 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	85/3279		22 October 1885	Robert Nelson, Registrar
75	26 October 1885	Walter Maplesden Noakes Jessie Lightband	Walter Maplesden Noakes Jessie Lightband 💍 1885/3179	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Nil	35 19	Nile Street, Nelson Nile Street, Nelson	6 days 3 years	Christchurch	85/3278	Martin Lightband, father	26 October 1885	Revd. John Pratt Kempthorne, Church of England
76	24 November 1885	George Brebner Noble Sarah Matilda Cass	George Brebner Noble Sarah Matilda Cass 💍 1885/3178	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	22 25	Waimea Street, Nelson Waimea Street, Nelson	10 years 2 years	Residence of Charles Noble, Waimea Street, Nelson	85/3276		24 November 1885	Revd. Thomas Anson Oats, Baptist Church
77	25 November 1885	John Gurish Cochran Margaret Ann Major	John Garrish Cockram Margaret Ann Major 💍 1885/3182	Bachelor Widow	Brick Maker Nil	23 23	Bishopdale, Nelson Grove Street, Nelson	23 years 2 years	Residence of William Puddicombe, Grove Street, Nelson	85/3281		25 November 1885	Revd. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
78	30 November 1885	John Alexander Bingham Lois Jane Marshall Bailey	John Alexander Bingham Lois Jane Marshall Bisley 💍 1885/3181	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Nil	25 22	Collingwood Street, Nelson Milton Street, Nelson	3 days 22 years	Wesleyan Church	85/3280		30 November 1885	Revd. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
79	1 December 1885	Thomas Gardner Margaret Lindsay Ogilvie	Thomas Gardiner Margaret Lindsay Ogilvie 💍 1885/3096	Widower Spinster	Groom Dressmaker	42 33	Hardy Street, Nelson Bridge Street, Nelson	29 years 20 years	Residence of James Canning, Hardy Street, Nelson	85/3282		1 December 1885	Revd. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
80	5 December 1885	John William Lane Jane Hunter	John William Lane Jane Hunter 💍 1885/3707	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Nil	23 24	Trafalgar Street, Nelson Halifax Street, Nelson	23 years 24 years	All Saints' Church	85/3285		5 December 1885	Revd. Charles William Irving, Church of England
81	7 December 1885	Charles James Hart Elizabeth Staples	Charles James Hart Elisabeth Staples 💍 1885/3113	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Nil	22 20	Manuka Street, Nelson Manuka Street, Nelson	4 days 4 days	At the Residence of Edward Webley, Manuka Street, Nelson	85/3283	Henry Staples, father	7 December 1885	Revd. Henry Josiah Lewis, Congregational Church
82	21 December 1885	Harry Graham Alice Christina Bruns	Harry Graham Alice Christina Bruns 💍 1885/3875	Bachelor Spinster	Furnish Nil	24 20	Bridge Street, Nelson Brougham Street, Nelson	24 years 3 years	Residence of Henry Bruns, Brougham Street, Nelson	85/3277	Henry Bruns, father	21 December 1885	Revd. Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
83	22 December 1885	Owen Daly Martha Elizabeth Webb	Owen Daly Martha Elizabeth Webb 💍 1885/3107	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Nil	28 21	Hardy Street, Nelson Hardy Street, Nelson	3 days 21 years	Residence of Christopher Webb, Hardy Street, Nelson	85/3283		22 December 1885	Revd. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
84	28 December 1885	Arthur Dixon Ada Louisa Scott	Arthur Dixon Ada Louisa Scott 💍 1885/3112	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman Nil	25 21	Washington Valley, Nelson Bridge Street, Nelson	4 days 21 years	Residence of Mrs. J. A. Askew, Victoria Road, Nelson	85/3284		28 December 1885	Revd. William Henry Beck, 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 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).