Intentions to Marry, 1895 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840407, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025.

1895 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 247

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1895

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 1895	Roland Frederick Marlow Goddard Emma Stunt	Roland Frederick Norton Goddard Emma Hunt 💍 1895/3295	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	22 22	Nelson Exchange Hotel Bridge Street Nelson Exchange Hotel Bridge Street	3 days 3 months	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	95/971		2 January 1895	Hugh Galters, Registrar
2	4 January 1895	Arthur Acland Dalys Emily Ella Wells	Arthur Acland Daly Emily Ella Wells 💍 1895/3220	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	21 20	Residence of William Wells Russell Street Nelson Residence of William Wells Russell Street Nelson	21 years 20 years	Residence of William Wells Russell Street Nelson	95/531	William Wells, Father	4 January 1895	George Bond, Wesleyan Minister
3	5 January 1895	Eleanor Hohmann Davidson Mary Elizabeth Sass	Alexander Richmond Davidson Mary Elizabeth Sadd 💍 1895/3213	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer Schoolmistress	32 38	Tory Street Nelson Tory Street Nelson	3 days 1 month	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street Nelson	95/542		5 January 1895	E. P. Cachemaille, Church of England Minister
4	2 February 1895	Alfred Henry Carter Mary Ann Rutherford	Alfred Henry Carter Mary Ann Rutherford 💍 1895/3225	Widower Spinster	Bricklayer	50 24	Harley Street Nelson Brightwater	2 years 2 months	Residence of Henry Carter, Harley Street Nelson	95/532		2 February 1895	George Bond, Wesleyan Minister
5	6 February 1895	Henry William Jackson Alice Amelia Schnoier	Henry William Jackson Alice Mena Schroder 💍 1895/3226	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Domestic Servant	35 24	Harper Street Nelson Nile Street East Nelson	3 years 3 months	Residence of Henry William Jackson, Harper Street Nelson	See Notice No. 7.		6 February 1895	Not exercised
6	7 February 1895	George Harpham Ellen Mildred Stanley	George Harpham Ellen Mildred Stanley 💍 1895/3812	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 42	Temperance Hotel, Collingwood Street Nelson Examiner Street Nelson	3 days 3 days	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street Nelson	95/543		7 February 1895	E. P. Cachemaille, Church of England Minister
7	7 February 1895	Henry William Jackson Alice Mina Schnoier	Henry William Jackson Alice Mena Schroder 💍 1895/3226	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Domestic Servant	35 24	Harper Street Nelson Nile Street East Nelson	3 years 18 months	Residence of Henry William Jackson, Harper Street Nelson	95/533		7 February 1895	George Bond, Wesleyan Minister
8	8 February 1895	Francis Blincoe Ruth Mary Packer	Francis Blincoe Ruth Mary Packer 💍 1895/3534	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	24 24	Martai Valley Nelson Examiner Street Nelson	6 years 18 months	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	94/972		15 February 1895	Hugh Galters, Registrar
9	28 February 1895	William Hunter Mann Harriet Ellen Lilly	William Hunter Main Harriet Ellen Lilly 💍 1895/3212	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 25	Bridge Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	3 days 6 weeks	Residence of John Kingly, Bridge Street	95/548		28 February 1895	J. H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister
10	2 March 1895	John Hearson Barker Martha Annie Johns	John Heaton Barker Martha Annie Johns 💍 1895/3227	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	24 20	Milton Street Nelson Trafalgar Street Nelson	3 months 20 years	Residence of Dorael Johns, Trafalgar Street Nelson	95/534	Dorael Johns, Father	2 March 1895	George Bond, Wesleyan Minister
11	4 March 1895	Charles Percival Harris Olive Maude Oldham	Charles Pestell Harris Alice Maud Oldham 💍 1895/3211	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	30 24	Bronte Street Nelson Suburban North, Wakapuaka	3 days 24 years	St. Peter's Church, Wakapuaka	95/540		4 March 1895	J. De B. Galway, Church of England 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).