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 184

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
13	31 January 1887	George Arthur Townsend Grace Annie Chamberlain	George Arthur Townsend Grace Annie Chamberlain 💍 1887/2080	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	22 18	Bridge Street Nelson Shelbourne Street Nelson	22 years 18 years	Residence of Groom	87/427	Alison Bain, mother	31 January 1887	Revd John Pratt Kemptthorne, Church of England
14	31 January 1887	Robert Horswell Frances Elizabeth Davis	Robert Hounsell Frances Elizabeth Davis 💍 1887/2078	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger Nil	26 24	Tasman Street Nelson Washington Valley Nelson	26 years 10 years	Presbyterian Church	87/425		31 January 1887	Revd Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
15	12 February 1887	Charles Edward Joseph Dee Frances Margaret Poole	Charles Edward Joseph Dee Francis Margaret Poole 💍 1887/2096	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Dressmaker	22 21	Collingwood Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	22 years 21 years	All Saints Church	87/419		12 February 1887	Revd Alfred Cecil Wright, Church of England
16	12 February 1887	Charles Scully Emma Cooley	Charles Scully Emma Cooley 💍 1887/2081	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Servant	27 21	Russell Street Nelson Russell Street Nelson	4 years 4 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	87/428		12 February 1887	Robert Kirton, Registrar
17	16 February 1887	John Scooking Johanna O'Brien	John Gieseking Johanna OBrien 💍 1887/2082	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Nil	22 21	Washington Valley Nelson Washington Valley Nelson	8 days 4 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages	87/429		16 February 1887	Robert Kirton, Registrar
18	26 February 1887	John Henry Dayman Rose Hannah Scott	John Henry Dayman Rose Hannah Scott 💍 1887/2711	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Nil	32 24	Washington Valley Nelson Shakespeare Walk Nelson	25 years 24 years	Residence of Groom	87/438	Thos. A. Scott, father	26 February 1887	Revd William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church
19	28 February 1887	George Lumsden Edith Eliza Lorimer	George Lumsden Edith Eliza Lorimer 💍 1887/2079	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker Nil	31 19	Hardy Street Nelson Hardy Street Nelson	3 days 6 years	Residence of George Lorimer, Hardy Street Nelson	87/426	George Lorimer, father	28 February 1887	Revd Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
20	2 March 1887	Amos Parkhurst Henrietta Frances Bayley	Amos Pankhurst Henrietta Frances Baxter 💍 1887/2083	Widower Widow	Labourer Nurse	46 35	Bishopdale Nelson Hampden Street Nelson	9 years 10 Weeks	Office of Registrar of Marriages	87/430		2 March 1887	Robert Kirton, Registrar
21	3 March 1887	William Godfrey Richardson Elizabeth Ann Buchanan	William Henry Richardson Elizabeth Charlotte Waite 💍 1887/907	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Nil	27 24	Stoke Nelson Stoke Nelson	7 years 8 Days	All Saints	87/420		3 March 1887	Revd A. C. Wright
22	8 March 1887	William Godfrey Richardson Elizabeth Ann Buchanan	William Henry Richardson Elizabeth Charlotte Waite 💍 1887/907	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Nil	27 24	Stoke Nelson Stoke Nelson	7 years 8 Days	Congregational Church	87/3464		8 March 1887	Revd W. B. West B.A.
23	8 March 1887	John Stringer Selina Ann Stanhope		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	44 34	Hope Waimea East Hope Waimea East	37 years 34 years	Office of Registrar	87/431		8 March 1887	Albert E. C. Cresswell, Deputy Registrar
24	21 March 1887	William George Green Eliza Jane Shallcrass	William George Kerr Eliza Davis Shallcrass 💍 1887/2722	Bachelor Spinster	Policeman Nil	26 22	Brook Street Nelson Brougham Street Nelson	11 years 4 years	Residence of Bride	87/439		21 March 1887	Revd W. H. Beck, Wesleyan Minister

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).