Intentions to Marry, 1893

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840405, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 6 2025.

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

Page 1036

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1893

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
44	3 July 1893	Cornelius Wicher Leach Marion Elizabeth Cresswell	Cornelius Whicher Leach Marion Elizabeth Cresswell 💍 1893/2599	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 18	Brougham St Nelson Stoke	14 Days 18 years	The residence of William Daniel Cresswell Stoke	93/2472	William Daniel Cresswell Father	3 July 1893	John Crump Wesleyan Minister Stoke
45	6 July 1893	William Edward Scott Miriam Ann Stewart	William Edward Scott Miriam Ann Stewart 💍 1893/2368	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	24 22	At Walter Harkeys Washington Valley Nelson At Walter Harkeys Washington Valley Nelson	3 days 5 weeks	At the residence of Walter Harkey Washington Valley Nelson	93/2476		6 July 1893	Thomas Bray Baptist Minister Nelson
46	22 July 1893	Daniel Best Katherine Leahy	Daniel Best Katherine Leohy 💍 1893/2350	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic servant	30 30	Richmond Waimea West Nelson	8 years 30 years	St Mary's Church Manuka Street Nelson	93/2473		22 July 1893	James Landowar Roman Catholic Priest Nelson
47	26 July 1893	Alexander Craigie Scott Hellen Amos	Alexander Craigie Hendry Scott Hellen Amos 💍 1893/2370	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial maker	29 24	Bridge St Nelson Church St Nelson	9 months 4 months	Trinity Presbyterian Church Nile Street Nelson	93/2478		26 July 1893	J. H. McKenzie Presbyterian Minister Nelson
48	31 July 1893	Wm Cooksey Annie Browning	William Cooksey Annie Browning 💍 1893/2369	Bachelor Spinster	Farm assistant	23 31	Mr Edward Harris Waimea Road Nelson Hampden Street Nelson	7 days 31 years	Residence of Mr George Ridsen Russell Street Nelson	93/2477		31 July 1893	F. W. Chatterton Church of England Minister Nelson
49	28 August 1893	Frederick Turner Maria Cecilia Martini	Frederick Turner Maria Cecilia Martini 💍 1893/2361	Widower Spinster	Hotel Keeper Housekeeper	46 23	Trafalgar Street Nelson Trafalgar Street Nelson	2 years 10 months	The residence of Frederick Turner Trafalgar Street Nelson	93/2474		28 August 1893	James Landour Roman Catholic Priest Nelson
50	15 September 1893	Laurence McKenzie Monkath Emma Christina Raikes	Lawrence McKenzie McLaurin Monteath Emma Christina Raikes 💍 1893/2728	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 29	Ngatimoti Street Nelson Kawai Street Nelson	3 days 5 years	Christchurch Cathedral Trafalgar Square Nelson	93/2868		15 September 1893	J. P. Kempthorne Church of England Minister Nelson
51	18 September 1893	Hugh Beathic Laura Glozies	Hugh Beattie Laura F Glozier 💍 1893/2371	Widower Spinster	Gentleman Music Teacher	60 30	Collingwood Street Nelson Waimea Road Nelson	33 years 9 years	Residence of Mrs Mahalah Glozies Waimea Road Nelson	93/2479		18 September 1893	J. H. McKenzie Presbyterian Minister Nelson
52	19 September 1893	William Scrimgeour Mary Ann Pettit	Willam Scrimgeour Mary Ann Pettit 💍 1893/2367	Widower Spinster	Farmer Hospital Nurse	60 38	Gloucester Street Nelson Waimea Road Nelson	4 days 30 years	Residence of Thomas Pettit Waimea Street Nelson	93/2475		19 September 1893	Thomas Bray Baptist Minister Nelson
53	23 September 1893	Robert George Carter Louisa Evelena Kike	Robert George Carter Louisa Erelena Kite 💍 1893/2598	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	24 21	Harley Street Nelson Harley Street Nelson	24 years 1 year	Residence of Henry Carter Harley Street Nelson	93/2471		23 September 1893	George Bond 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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).