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 788

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 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
45	3 July 1885	James Bell Alice Wasney	James Bell Alice Wastney 💍 1885/2278 James Bell Annie Catherine Carne Groube 💍 1886/431	Bachelor Spinster	Station Holder Nil	29 26	Wakapuaka Wakapuaka	3 days 26 years	Presbyterian Church Nelson	85/2384		3 July 1885	Rev. Patrick Calder
46	7 July 1885	Benjamin Grish Margaret Grannies	Benjamin Crisp Margaret Grimes 💍 1885/2349	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Nil	27 24	Hardy Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	27 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church	85/2371		7 July 1885	Rev. William Joseph Mahoney
47	14 July 1885	George William Taylor Ellen Louisa King	George William Taylor Ellen Louisa King 💍 1885/2279	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Smith Nil	23 21	Washington Valley Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	4 years 22 years	Residence of William Taylor Washington Valley Nelson	85/2385		14 July 1885	Rev. Patrick Calder
48	14 July 1885	Charles George Satchell Georgina Sarah Harley	Charles George Satchell Georgina Sarah Harley 💍 1885/2344	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon Nil	27 20	Richmond Stoke	4 days 20 years	St Barnabas Church Stoke	85/2365	Alfred Harley, father	14 July 1885	Right Rev. Andrew Suter, Bishop of Nelson
49	18 July 1885	Jesse Ernest Hounsell Alice Grooby		Bachelor Spinster	Bookseller Servant	27 25	Nile Street Nelson Nile Street Nelson	20 years 5 years	Presbyterian Church Nelson			18 July 1885	Rev. Patrick Calder
50	21 July 1885	Charles James Huffell Annie Lockyer	Charles James Ruffell Annie Lockyer 💍 1885/2280	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	23 20	Brook Street Nelson Brook Street Nelson	3 days 20 years	Residence of William Lockyer	85/2386	William Lockyer, father	21 July 1885	Rev. Patrick Calder
51	22 July 1885	James Bell Calder Marjory Mary Gilbertson	James Bell Calder Margory Mary Gilbertson 💍 1885/2346	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Nil	27 28	Haven Road Nelson Haven Road Nelson	27 years 10 years	Congregational Church Nelson	85/2367		22 July 1885	Rev. Henry Josiah Lewis
52	25 July 1885	Edwin James Hill Clara Annie Arntzen	Edwin James Hill Clara Anita Aitken 💍 1885/2275	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Nil	24 23	Trafalgar Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	3 days 23 years	Baptist Church	85/2381		25 July 1885	Rev. Thomas Amsom Cato
53	27 July 1885	John Pain Louisa Berry	John Pain Louisa Berry 💍 1885/2351	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Dressmaker	33 23	Bridge Street Nelson Wakapuaka Road	4 months 14 years	At the Residence of W. H. Berry	85/2373		27 July 1885	William Henry Beck
54	29 July 1885	Joseph Webley Annie Elizabeth Paynter	Joseph Webley Ann Elizabeth Poynter 💍 1885/2276	Widower Widow	Cloth Manufacturer Nil	70 48	Vanguard Street Nelson Vanguard Street Nelson	27 years 17 years	Residence of Mrs. Paynter Vanguard Street Nelson	85/2382		29 July 1885	Rev. Thomas Amsom Cato
55	12 August 1885	Mark Furneaux Catherine Beagley	Mark Furneaux Catherine Beagley 💍 1885/3574	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Nil	30 22	Russell Street Nelson Russell Street Nelson	5 days 12 years	Bishopdale Church	85/3785		12 August 1885	Rev. Charles William Jennings, Church of England
56	17 August 1885	William Daywill Clara Dutton	William Saywell Clara Sutton 💍 1885/2352	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Nil	25 25	Richmond Richmond	4 days 25 years	Wesleyan Parsonage Nelson	85/2374		17 August 1885	Rev. William Henry Beck

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).