Intentions to Marry, 1887

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840399, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 183

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1887

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	Officiating Minister
1	3 January 1887	Cuthbert George Peart Helen Drummond Spender	Cuthbert George Peart Helen Drummond 💍 1887/2086	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Nil	37 37	Vanguard Street Nelson Tasman Street Nelson	6 years 4 days	Residence of Mrs Joseph Peart	87/432		Revd. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Minister
2	4 January 1887	James Elijah Stone Sarah Limmer	James Elijah Stone Sarah Limmer 💍 1887/2087	Bachelor Spinster	Asylum Warder Servant	26 22	Waimea Road Nelson Broom Street Nelson	2 years 1 year	Residence of John Stone, Broom Street Nelson	87/433		Revd. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Minister
3	4 January 1887	Charles Thomas Law Margaret Amelia Worthington Jones	Charles Thomas Lane Margaret Amelia Worthington Jones 💍 1887/2094	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Painter Dressmaker	21 24	Hardy Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	3 days 6 years	All Saints Church Nelson	87/417		Revd. Alfred Cecil Wright, Church of England
4	8 January 1887	Frank Reed Sarah Elizabeth Helen Jones	Frank Reed Edith Elizabeth Helen Jones 💍 1887/2095	Bachelor Spinster	Mining Engineer Nil	23 21	Trafalgar Street Nelson Trafalgar Street Nelson	4 days 1 day	All Saints Church Nelson	87/418		Revd. John Pratt Kempthorne, Church of England
5	8 January 1887	James Glass Taunt Christina Speirs	James Clark Taunt Christina Speirs 💍 1887/2077	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Nil	29 27	Nile Street Nelson Vanguard Street Nelson	3 days 3 years	Residence of Mrs John Speirs, Vanguard Street Nelson	87/424		Revd. Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
6	8 January 1887	Murdoch Davies Isabella Hay Anderson	Murdoch Davies Isabella Hay Anderson 💍 1887/2076	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	21 22	Happy Valley Happy Valley	3 days 22 years	St Andrews Church	87/423		Revd. Arthur Hermon, Church of England
7	13 January 1887	Alfred George Wray Frances Win	Alfred George Wray Frances Win 💍 1887/2735	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer Nil	23 26	Richmond Dovedale	10 months 16 years	Church of the Resurrection Richmond	87/446		Revd. William George Baker, Church of England
8	15 January 1887	George James Miller Florence Mary Jamieson	George James Miller Florence Mary Lammas 💍 1887/2089	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Nil	24 18	Hope Richmond	6 months 18 years	Residence of John Glover, Toi Toi Valley, Nelson	87/435	John Jamieson, father	Revd. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
9	15 January 1887	John Gray Sarah Ramage	John Gray Sarah Ramage 💍 1887/2088	Bachelor Widow	Mariner Nil	29 32	Bridge Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	2 years 6 months	Residence of Mrs Ramage, Hardy Street Nelson	87/434		Revd. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Minister
10	17 January 1887	John Humphreys Frances Jane Anning	John Humphreys Frances Jane Anning 💍 1887/2098	Widower Widow	Retired Army Officer Nil	58 48	Stoke Shelbourne Street Nelson	6 weeks 5 years	Residence of Mrs F. J. Anning, Shelbourne Street Nelson	87/421		Revd. James Harding, Baptist Church
11	26 January 1887	John Ogilvie Mary Jane Adams	John Ogilvie Mary Jane Adams 💍 1887/2091	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper Servant	27 19	Bridge Street Nelson Haven Road Nelson	3 years 19 years	Residence of John Ogilvie, Bridge Street Nelson	87/437	Richard Adams, father	Revd. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Minister
12	26 January 1887	Albert Bebayfald Susidia Diggelkro		Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Nil	22 19	Hardy Street Nelson Hope	22 years 19 years	Residence of Maria Bebayfald, Nile Street Nelson	87/436	Samuel Diggelkro, father	Revd. 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).