Intentions to Marry, 1890

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840402, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 1382

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar Robert Kirton

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

22 December 1890

William Thomas Andrew
Ida Cobb

William Thomas Andrew
Ida Cobb
💍 1891/3530

Widower
Spinster

Carrier
Servant

38
19

Trafalgar Street, Nelson
Stoke

3 days
3 weeks

Residence of Richard Andrew, Waimea West

No person resident in the Colony having authority

Entry transferred to Sheet for March Quarter 1891

No	55
Date of Notice	22 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Andrew	Ida Cobb
	💍 1891/3530
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Servant
Age	38	19
Dwelling Place	Trafalgar Street, Nelson	Stoke
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard Andrew, Waimea West
Folio
Consent	No person resident in the Colony having authority
Date of Certificate	Entry transferred to Sheet for March Quarter 1891
Officiating Minister

22 December 1890

Martin Staples Smith
Minnie Davies

Martin Staples Smith
Minnie Davies
💍 1890/3120

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Servant

24
24

Bridge Street, Nelson
Grove Street, Nelson

6 years
3 years

Wesleyan Church, Nelson

90/3319

22 December 1890

Rev. Francis Whitmore Isitt, Wesleyan Church

No	56
Date of Notice	22 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Staples Smith	Minnie Davies
	💍 1890/3120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Servant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Bridge Street, Nelson	Grove Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Nelson
Folio	90/3319
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. Francis Whitmore Isitt, Wesleyan Church

22 December 1890

Ernest Edward Boyes
Jane Elizabeth Lucre

Edward Ernest Boyes
Jane Elizabeth Lucre
💍 1890/3130

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Cook

24
23

Bridge Street, Nelson
Waimea Road, Nelson

3 years
23 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

90/3311

22 December 1890

Rev. Fred Wm. Chatterton, Church of England

No	57
Date of Notice	22 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Boyes	Jane Elizabeth Lucre
BDM Match (74%)	Edward Ernest Boyes	Jane Elizabeth Lucre
	💍 1890/3130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Cook
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Bridge Street, Nelson	Waimea Road, Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	90/3311
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. Fred Wm. Chatterton, Church of England

22 December 1890

Charles White
Mary Hargreaves

Charles White
Mary Jane Hargreaves
💍 1890/3121

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Nil

25
25

Bridge Street, Nelson
Cambria Street, Nelson

25 years
25 years

Residence of Wm Woolford, Cambria Street, Nelson

90/3320

22 December 1890

Rev. John Pratt Kempthorne, Church of England

No	58
Date of Notice	22 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles White	Mary Hargreaves
BDM Match (88%)	Charles White	Mary Jane Hargreaves
	💍 1890/3121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Nil
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Bridge Street, Nelson	Cambria Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Wm Woolford, Cambria Street, Nelson
Folio	90/3320
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Pratt Kempthorne, Church of England

23 December 1890

Frederick William Chatterton
Anne Hill

Frederick William Chatterton
Anne Hill
💍 1890/3545

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders
Nil

30
36

Vanguard Street, Nelson
Nelson

2 years
1 week

Bishopdale Chapel, Nelson

90/3811

23 December 1890

Rev. Charles Oliver Mules, Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	23 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Chatterton	Anne Hill
	💍 1890/3545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders	Nil
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Vanguard Street, Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Bishopdale Chapel, Nelson
Folio	90/3811
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles Oliver Mules, Church of England

29 December 1890

Alfred Augustus Grace
Amelia Adelaide Harriet Jennings

Alfred Augustus Grace
Amelia Adelaide Harriet Jennings
💍 1890/3125

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Nil

23
20

Washington Valley, Nelson
Washington Valley, Nelson

3 years
10 years

Christ church, Nelson

90/3325

Maria Faird Jennings, mother.

29 December 1890

Rev. John Pratt Kempthorne, Church of England

No	60
Date of Notice	29 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Augustus Grace	Amelia Adelaide Harriet Jennings
	💍 1890/3125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Nil
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Washington Valley, Nelson	Washington Valley, Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Christ church, Nelson
Folio	90/3325
Consent	Maria Faird Jennings, mother.
Date of Certificate	29 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Pratt Kempthorne, 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 1908. 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).