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 1463

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
54	3 October 1893	Arthur Williamson Vara Kate Johns	Arthur Williamson Shallcrass Vera Kate Johns 💍 1893/4145	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 years 22 years	Brougham St Nelson Trafalgar St Nelson	24 years 22 years	Residence of Israel Johns	93/3919	3 October 1893	Rev George Bond, Wesleyan minister
55	12 October 1893	William Thomas Miller Annie Brimer	William Thomas Miller Annie Brimer 💍 1893/3923	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	26 years 27 years	Collingwood St Nelson Collingwood St Nelson	3 days 27 years	Residence of William Miller	93/3480	12 October 1893	Rev J.H. McKenzie, Presbyterian minister
56	23 October 1893	Charles Cook Mary Thomson	Charles Cook Mary Thomson 💍 1893/3510 Thomas Barker Mary Thomson 💍 1893/1140	Widower Spinster	Butcher	24 years 24 years	Nile Street East Nelson Haven Road Nelson	24 years 24 years	The residence of Mr Paul Thomson, Haven Road Nelson	93/3920	23 October 1893	Rev George Bond, Wesleyan minister
57	6 November 1893	Edmund Francis Smith Catherine Edith Martin	Edmund Francis Smith Catherine Edith Martin 💍 1893/3266	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 years 30 years	Brightwater Brightwater	4 days 30 years	St Barnabas Church Stoke	93/3477	6 November 1893	Rev Wm George Baker, Church of England minister
58	28 November 1893	Frederick Philip Fendall Emma Florence York	Frederick Philip Fendall Emma Florence York 💍 1893/3271	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk in holy orders	33 years 33 years	Bishopdale Nelson Bishopdale Nelson	3 clear days 1 year	The Chapel of the Holy Evangelists Bishopdale	93/3484	28 November 1893	Revd Chas O. Mile, Bishop of church of England
59	1 December 1893	Theodore Christophe Charles Schroder Dorothea Margaret Matilda Stade	Theodore Christopher Charles Schroder Dorothea Margaret Matilda Stade 💍 1893/3269	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic servant	27 years 21 years	Hope Hope	27 years 4 days	Ranzau Church Hope	93/3482	1 December 1893	J.C.G. Thiel, Lutheran minister
60	5 December 1893	John Edward Morrison Rose Syle	John Edward Morrison Rose Eyles 💍 1893/3511	Bachelor Spinster	Boatman Servant	23 years 25 years	Wakefield Quay Nelson Russell Street Nelson	23 years 20 years	The residence of George Kidson, Russell St Nelson	93/3921	5 December 1893	Rev Geo Bond, Wesleyan minister
61	13 December 1893	James Jenner Lucy Biddle	James Jenner Lucy Biddle 💍 1893/3922	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	42 years 19 years	Richmond Richmond	42 years 19 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	93/3478	13 December 1893	Registrar of Marriages Nelson
62	19 December 1893	Martin Robert Henry Florence Lillian Lavy		Bachelor Spinster	Pianoforte tuner Photographic improver	32 years 21 years	Hardy St Nelson Nile St West Nelson	4 years 21 years	The residence of Revd J.H. McKenzie, Maitai Bank Nelson	93/3481	19 December 1893	Revd J.H. McKenzie, Presbyterian minister
63	27 December 1893	George Winks Lottie Brook	George Winter Lottie Brock 💍 1893/3267	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 years 21 years	Richmond Richmond	5 days 21 years	Holy Trinity Church Richmond	93/3479	27 December 1893	Rev Wm J Baker, Church of England minister
64	27 December 1893	William James Reilly Alice Florence Page	William James Reilly Alice Florence Page 💍 1893/3270	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller School Teacher	28 years 26 years	Nile Street East Nelson Collingwood St Nelson	4 days 12 days	St Mary's Church Manuka St Nelson	93/3483	27 December 1893	Father Mahoney, Roman Catholic priest

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).