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 574

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 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
30	30 April 1886	Charles William Poynter Marguerita Susannah Percival	Charles William Poynter Margaretta Susannah Percival 💍 1886/123	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer Dressmaker	24 22	Vanguard Street Nelson Brook Street Nelson	3 days 22 years	Christchurch	86/1341		30 April 1886	John Pratt Kempthorne, Church of England
31	30 April 1886	Frederick Charles Pettet Mary Louisa Richard	Frederick Charles Pettit Mary Louisa Richards 💍 1886/129	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Nil	26 19	Waimia Road Nelson Nile Street Nelson	23 years 3 years	Residence of James Hy Richards, Nile Street Nelson	86/1346	James Henry Richard, father	30 April 1886	Revd William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
32	10 May 1886	Robert Alfred Williams Agnes Ruth Edward	Robert Alfred Williams Agnes Ruth Edwards 💍 1886/1470	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	22 20	Grove Street Nelson Waimia Road Nelson	3 months 2 years	Residence of Edwin Edwards, Waimea Road, Nelson	86/1354	Edwin Edward, father	10 May 1886	Revd Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
33	11 May 1886	John Henry Simmons Mary Hyland	John Henry Jennens Mary Hyland 💍 1886/1469	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Nil	20 19	Halifax Street Nelson South Street Nelson	20 years 19 years	Catholic Station	86/1353	Arthur Hyland, father	11 May 1886	Revd William Joseph Mahoney S.M., Roman Catholic Church
34	12 May 1886	Robert Louisson Annie Louisa Sutton	Robert Louisson Annie Louisa Sutton 💍 1886/1471	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Nil	24 22	Bridge Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	3 years 24 years	Presbyterian Manse, Nile Street, Nelson	86/1355		12 May 1886	Revd Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
35	14 May 1886	George Young Canton Louisa Paul	George Young Canton Louisa Paul 💍 1886/117	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	20 17	Hope, Waimea Richmond, Waimea	2 years 6 years	St Albans Church, Appleby	86/1333	George Canton, father; George Paul, father	14 May 1886	Revd Charles William Jenning, Church of England
36	15 May 1886	George King Annie Marie Kurman	George King Annie Marie Kiernan 💍 1886/119	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker Dressmaker	24 22	Bridge Street Nelson Brook Street Nelson	22 years 3 years	Chapel of the Holy Evangelists, Bishopdale	86/1334		15 May 1886	Revd Frederick William Challott, Church of England
37	21 May 1886	William Christian Ernest Frazer Catherine Clark	William Christian Ernest Frazer Catherine Clark 💍 1886/139	Bachelor Widow	Surveyor Servant	36 34	Haven Road Nelson Russell Street Nelson	6 days 3 months	Christchurch	86/1333		21 May 1886	Revd John Pratt Kempthorne, Church of England
38	21 May 1886	Alfred Gray Small Annie Norwood Poynter	Alfred George Small Annie Norwood Poynter 💍 1886/1450	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Nil	25 27	Vanguard Street Nelson Vanguard Street Nelson	25 years 27 years	Residence of Mr Inch Webby, Vanguard Street, Nelson	86/1350		21 May 1886	Revd Henry Josiah Lewis, Congregational Church
39	25 May 1886	George Ebbs Emily Elizabeth Husband	George Epps Emily Elizabeth Husband 💍 1886/130	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Nil	48 19	Bridge Street Nelson Waimia Road Nelson	4 days 4 days	Wesleyan Church	86/1347	Mr Husband, mother	25 May 1886	Revd William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
40	1 June 1886	Oliver Powell Mary Ann Stewart	Oliver Powell Mary Ann Stewart 💍 1886/1472	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Nil	25 21	St Lady Barstey, Nelson The Port, Nelson	5 months 21 years	Residence of Edward Graham, The Port	86/1356		1 June 1886	Revd Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
41	14 June 1886	John James Tuckett Eliza Kidson	John James Ricketts Eliza Ridson 💍 1886/131	Bachelor Spinster	Shipwright Nil	36 19	Haven Road Nelson Boulder Bank Nelson	4 days 19 years	The Lighthouse, Boulder Bank	86/1348	John Kidson, father	14 June 1886	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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).