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 702

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 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	Officiating Minister
33	14 May 1895	William Rogers Henrietta Katherine Spoor	William Rogers Henrietta Katherine Spear 💍 1895/359	Bachelor Spinster	Shipping Clerk Domestic Duties	34 24	Collingwood Street Nelson Mile Street East Nelson	19 years 24 years	Wesleyan Church Nelson	95/1534		Geo Bond, Wesleyan Minister
34	20 May 1895	Albert Lethaby Mary Eleanor Graham	Albert Lethaby Mary Eleanor Graham 💍 1895/360	Bachelor Spinster	Umbrella-maker Domestic Servant	21 21	Hardy Street Nelson Grove House Trafalgar Road Nelson	2 months 12 months	Residence of Geo Bond, Hardy Street Nelson	95/1535		Geo Bond, Wesleyan Minister
35	3 June 1895	James Gallister Eliza Phoebe Simpson	James Callister Eliza Phoebe Simpson 💍 1895/813	Bachelor Spinster	Dairy Farmer	26 26	Washington Road Nelson Washington Road Nelson	26 years 26 years	Christchurch Trafalgar Street Nelson	95/2083		J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
36	8 June 1895	Francis William Hill Harriett Ann Hunter	Francis William Hill Harriett Maud Hunter 💍 1895/382	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	22 19	Waimea West Waimea West	5 days 19 years	Residence of Gardiner Hunter, Waimea West	95/1563	Gardiner Hunter, Father	Edward Lewis, Minister of the Church of Christ
37	11 June 1895	William David Lusty Mary Walsh	William David Lusty Mary Walsh 💍 1895/814	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	26 24	Hardy Street Nelson Maitai Bank Nelson	11 months 1 year	Christchurch Trafalgar Square, Nelson	95/2084		J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
38	14 June 1895	William Charles Chall Margaret Robb	William Charles Cheel Margaret Robb 💍 1895/370	Bachelor Spinster	Lighthouse Keeper	29 24	Beachville Nelson Beachville Nelson	5 days 14 days	Residence of John Robb, Beachville Nelson	95/1545		E. C. Isaac, Congregational Minister
39	25 June 1895	Alfred James Palmer Frances Margaret Cora Birch	Alfred James Palmer Frances Margaret Cora Birch 💍 1895/1203	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 20	Chinniseed Valley Waimea East Hope	6 months 6 months	Holy Trinity Church, Church Street Richmond	95/2535	Robert Lynch Cotton Birch, Father	A. C. Wright, Church of England Minister
40	27 June 1895	John William Douglas Ada Clara Emeline Lovell	John William Douglas Ada Clara Emiline Novell 💍 1895/1241	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	23 20	Vanguard Street Nelson Haven Road Nelson	2 months 2 months	Residence of Thomas Gunderson, Grove Street Nelson	95/2527	Benjamin Lovell, Father	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 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).