Intentions to Marry, 1886

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840398, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 183

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1886

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	19 January 1886	Robert Russell May Ann Black	Robert Russell Mary Ann Blick 💍 1886/588	Widower Widow	Gardener	52 53	Tor Tor Valley Tor Tor Valley	12 years 14 years	Residence of Robert Russell, Tor Tor Valley, Nelson	86/460		19 January 1886	Rev. H. I. Lewis, Congregational Minister
2	28 January 1886	William Evans Dempsey Mary Hollister	William Evans Dempsie Mary Hollister 💍 1886/596	Bachelor Widow	Gentleman	28 42	Stoke Nelson Stoke Nelson	3 months 3 months	Turf Hotel, Stoke Nelson	86/464		28 January 1886	Rev. W. H. Beck, Wesleyan Minister
3	30 January 1886	Arthur James Batt Rose Anstice	Arthur James Batt Rose Anstice 💍 1886/597	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Employee Nil	26 22	Belgrove Hardy Street Nelson	26 years Residence 15 years	Residence of John Anstice, Hardy Street Nelson	86/468		30 January 1886	Rev. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
4	2 February 1886	James Coffey Hannah Barry	James Coffey Hannah Barry 💍 1886/594	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Newarder	41 24	Waimea Street Nelson Haven Road Nelson	3 months 1 month	St Mary, Catholic Church, Nelson	86/465		2 February 1886	Rev. William Joseph Mahoney, Roman Catholic Church
5	12 February 1886	William Waller Emily Golcinda Cross	William Waller Emily Golconda Cross 💍 1886/583	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Nil	31 23	Wakefield Quay Nelson Waimea Road Nelson	3 days 23 years	English Church, Bishopdale	86/455		12 February 1886	Rev. Charles William Jennings, Church of England
6	13 February 1886	Charles Edwin Luxford Annie Taylor	Charles Edwin Stratford Annie Taylor 💍 1886/592	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	25 23	Richmond Waimea Richmond Waimea	2 years 23 years	Office of the Registrar, Nelson	86/463		13 February 1886	Robert Kiton, Registrar
7	15 February 1886	Charles Lucas Emily Heil	Charles Lucas Emily Hill 💍 1886/575	Widower Widow	Farmer Tailoress	about 63 56	Pelton Bridge Street Nelson	3 days 18 years	Residence of George Picton Howell, Presbyterian Church, Pelton	86/439		15 February 1886	Rev. George Picton Howell, Presbyterian Church
8	18 February 1886	Walter Veith Wells Theresa Agnes Dickson	Walter Scott Wells Theresa Agnes Dickson 💍 1886/593	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	33 21	Suburban North Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	15 years 3 months	Office of the Registrar, Nelson	86/464		18 February 1886	Robert Kiton, Registrar
9	20 February 1886	John James Corlett Lillies Davis	John James Corlett Lillies Davis 💍 1886/605	Bachelor Widow	Mariner Newarder	38 41	Bridge Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	7 months 7 days	Residence of H. Thomson, Bridge Street, Nelson	86/469		20 February 1886	Rev. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
10	23 February 1886	Francis Hooper Rachel Mary Bolton	Francis Hooper Rachel Mary Bolton 💍 1886/584	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Dressmaker	32 23	Bridge Street Nelson Waimea Street Nelson	3 days 23 years	At the residence of Samuel Bolton, Waimea Street, Nelson	86/456		23 February 1886	Rev. Charles William Jennings, Church of England
11	24 February 1886	Christian Liptus Sophia Mary Tiggerkins		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	25 26	Hope Waimea Hope Waimea	2 years 26 years	The Lutheran Church, Hope	86/459		24 February 1886	Rev. Hermann Wilhelm Kaseu, Lutheran Church
12	6 March 1886	Philip Alfred Rwi Eliza Newcome Luxford	Philip Alfred Rive Eliza Newcome Luxford 💍 1886/616	Widower Spinster	Draper Nil	32 20	Grove Street Nelson Grove Street Nelson	4 days 5 years	Wesleyan Church, Nelson	86/490	Charles Edward Luxford, Father	6 March 1886	Rev. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).