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 552

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
27	1 April 1887	Albert Augustus Lucas Alice Mabel Field	Albert Augustus Lucas Alice Mabel Field 💍 1887/3304	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Nil	22 21	Britannia Heights Nelson Examiner Street Nelson	22 years 5 years	Residence of Thomas Field Examiner Street Nelson	87/1301		1 April 1887	Rev. William Henry Beck Wesleyan Church
28	2 April 1887	William Marshall Kate Keen	William Wanstall Kate Keen 💍 1887/3446	Widower Spinster	Painter Nil	31 16	Hope Richmond	2 years 10 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages Nelson	87/1292	John Keen Father	2 April 1887	Robert Watson Registrar
29	2 April 1887	Andrew Miller Frances Bowen	Andrew Miller Francis Bowen 💍 1887/3305	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Nil	24 23	Alton Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	24 years 23 years	Residence of John Paul Miller Alton Street Nelson	87/1302		2 April 1887	Rev. William Henry Beck Wesleyan Church
30	12 April 1887	William Lyon Naby Louisa Carter	William Lyon Raby Louisa Carter 💍 1887/3448	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Nil	38 30	41 Aorere Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	2 years 4 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages Nelson	87/1293		12 April 1887	Robert Watson Registrar
31	19 April 1887	John Alfred Thuigen Catherine Calder	John Alfred Stringer Catherine Calder 💍 1887/3310	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Shop Assistant	24 25	Haven Road Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	26 years 25 years	Presbyterian Church Nelson	87/1307		19 April 1887	Rev. Patrick Calder Presbyterian Church
32	22 April 1887	William Kenning Jane Good	William Kenning Jane Good 💍 1887/3306	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	23 23	Stoke Collingwood Street Nelson	23 years 23 years	Residence of William Good Collingwood Street Nelson	87/1303		22 April 1887	Rev. William C. Oliver Wesleyan Church
33	28 April 1887	Arthur Simms Mary Reilly	Arthur Emms Mary Reilly 💍 1887/3450	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Nil	22 17	Bridge Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	3 days 2 months	Residence of J. Waterhouse Collingwood Street Nelson	87/1295	James Reilly Father	28 April 1887	Rev. William Joseph Mahony S.M. Roman Catholic Church
34	2 May 1887	Alexander Ferrier Hamilton Phyllis Carruthers Renwick	Alexander Ferrier Hamilton Phyllis Carruthers Renwick 💍 1887/3453	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager Nil	37 27	Hardy Street Nelson Manuka Street Nelson	18 months 8 years	Church of England	87/1298		Certificate not granted	Rev. John Chapman Andrew M.A.
35	4 May 1887	Henry James Bright Annie Hill	Henry James Bright Annie Hill 💍 1887/3449	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger Nil	27 23	Motueka Street Nelson Hope	1 month 2 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages Nelson	87/1294		5 May 1887	Robert Watson Registrar
36	5 May 1887	Henry James Bright Annie Hill	Henry James Bright Annie Hill 💍 1887/3449	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger Nil	27 23	Motueka Street Nelson Hope	1 month 2 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages Nelson	87/1294		5 May 1887	Robert Watson Registrar
37	4 May 1887	Charles Henry Hanning Broughton Mary Ann O'Connor	Charles Henry S Broughton Mary Ann O'Connor 💍 1887/3451	Bachelor Spinster	Lighthouse Keeper Nil	30 25	Bridge Street Nelson Brook Street Nelson	3 days 25 years	St. Mary's Catholic Church Nelson	87/1296		5 May 1887	Rev. William Joseph Mahony S.M. Roman Catholic Church
38	4 May 1887	Charles Revell Helen Coles	Charles Revell Helen Coles 💍 1887/3452	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	26 16	Collingwood Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	12 days 14 years	Church of England	87/1299	Samuel Coles father	5 May 1887	Rev. John Pratt Newcombe Church of England

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).