Intentions to Marry, 1889

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840401, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 189

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1889 Registrar Robert Kinton

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	2 January 1889	Alfred Cooper Elizabeth Patching	Alfred Cooper Elizabeth Patching 💍 1889/587	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	24 22	Wainia Road, Nelson Wainia Road, Nelson	3 days 2 Weeks	Residence of James Cooper, Waimea Road, Nelson	89/424		2 January 1889	Revd Frederick Wm. Chatterton, Church of England
2	7 January 1889	Charles Alfred Ricketts Jane Names	Charles Alfred Ricketts Jane Stains 💍 1889/606 Charles Starr Jane James 💍 1889/2595	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Servant	26 22	Ketch Transit of Nelson Haven Road, Nelson	3 years 5 days	Residence of Charles Alfred Ricketts, Halifax Street, Nelson	89/421		7 January 1889	Revd William C. Oliver, Wesleyan Church
3	7 January 1889	Charles Robert James Emily Winifred Lloyd	Charles Robert James Emily Winifred Lloyd 💍 1889/591	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Nil	27 20	Collingwood Street, Nelson Collingwood Street, Nelson	3 days 20 years	Christchurch	89/428	Evan Lloyd, father	7 January 1889	Revd F. W. Chatterton, Church of England
4	19 January 1889	Julius Oh Matilda Blick	Julius Ott Matilda Blick 💍 1889/592	Bachelor Spinster	Steward Servant	24 21	Haven Road, Nelson Haven Road, Nelson	4 days 21 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	89/429		23 January 1889	A. E. Cresswell, Deputy Registrar
5	21 January 1889	John Robertson Agnes Sarah Williams	John Robertson Agnes Sarah Williams 💍 1889/2641	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	25 25	Manuka Street, Nelson Manuka Street, Nelson	25 years 3 years	Residence of James Robertson, Manuka Street, Nelson	89/420		21 January 1889	Revd F. W. Chatterton, Church of England
6	22 January 1889	David Rayner Mary Jane Allport	David Rayner Mary Jane Allport 💍 1889/590	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	23 22	Wakapuaka Stoke	2 months 1 year	Residence of Mr. Allport, Stoke	89/427		22 January 1889	Revd John Crump, Wesleyan Church
7	31 January 1889	Thomas Henry Gifford Ellen Newport	Thomas Henry Gifford Ellen Newport 💍 1889/593	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	34 35	Richmond Richmond	3 months 7 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	89/430		5 February 1889	Robert Kinton, Registrar
8	2 February 1889	Walter Webster Christholm Amy Wells	Walter Webster Chisholm Amy Wells 💍 1889/588	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Nil	28 26	Bridge Street, Nelson Trafalgar Street, North Nelson	24 years 3 days	Residence of J. S. Christholm, Collingwood Street, Nelson	89/425		2 February 1889	Revd Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church
9	13 February 1889	John Edward Salisbury Ellen Farquhar Smith	John Edward Salisbury Ellen Farquhar Smith 💍 1889/594	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer Nil	27 23	Bridge Street, Nelson Wainia Street, Nelson	4 days 3 Weeks	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	89/431		13 February 1889	Robert Kinton, Registrar
10	21 February 1889	Arthur Thomas Phillip Bean Sarah Alice Wood	Arthur Thomas Phillips Vercoe Sarah Alice Wood 💍 1889/2642	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Nil	24 18	Russell Street, Nelson Halifax Street, Nelson	15 years 18 years	Residence of Joseph Wood, Halifax Street, Nelson	89/422	Joseph Wood, Father	21 February 1889	Revd William C. Oliver, Wesleyan Church
11	13 March 1889	Ernest Edward Fraser Agnes Bell Simpson	Ernest Edward Trask Agnes Bell Simpson 💍 1889/2643	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Nil	23 27	Collingwood Street, Nelson Russell Street, Nelson	23 years 27 years	Wesleyan Church, Nelson	89/423		13 March 1889	Revd William C. Oliver, Wesleyan Church
12	30 March 1889	Arthur Bell Shaw Annie Kerr	Arthur Bell Shaw Annie Kerr 💍 1889/1298	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman Nil	25 27	Hardy Street, Nelson Bronte Street, Nelson	4 months 6 years	All Saints' Church, Nelson	89/1295		30 March 1889	Revd F. W. Chatterton, 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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).