Intentions to Marry, 1895 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840408, 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 236

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 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
41	8 July 1895	Edward Silvers Gresswell Kate Reeves	Edward Silvers Cresswell Kate Reeves 💍 1895/1197	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	26 24	Church Street, Nelson Collingwood Street, Nelson	17 years 17 years	Residence of Richard Harman, Collingwood Street, Nelson	95/2529		Rev. J. H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister
42	22 July 1895	James Clan McKenzie Margaret Elizabeth Garnett	James Clark McArtney Margaret Elizabeth Barnett 💍 1895/1199	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Manufacturer	22 22	Bridge Street, Nelson Waimea Street, Nelson	22 years 32 years	Residence of Henry Bond, Waimea Street, Nelson	95/2530		Rev. James H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister
43	24 July 1895	George Brock Mary Hammond	George Brock Mary Hammond 💍 1895/1204	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 23	Richmond Richmond	29 years 23 years	Holy Trinity Church, Richmond	95/2536		Rev. S. P. Cachemaille, Church of England Minister
44	29 July 1895	James Russell Richardson Frances Maud Dyer	James Russell Richardson Frances Maude Dyer 💍 1895/1205	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	31 29	New Street, Nelson Hastings Street, Nelson	4 days 2 years	Church of England, Nelson	95/2537		Rev. S. P. Cachemaille, Church of England Minister
45	29 July 1895	Henry James Simmons Louisa Harris	Henry James Simmonds Louisa Harris 💍 1895/1186	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	33 20	Milton Street, Nelson Milton Street, Nelson	4 days 20 years	Residence of Thomas Edward Harris, Milton Street, Nelson	95/2528	Thomas Edward Harris, Father	Rev. George Bond, Wesleyan Minister
46	6 August 1895	William Joseph Dow Barbara Edith Dow	William Joseph Ford Barbara Edith Dron 💍 1895/1200	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 23	Waimea West Waimea West	32 years 23 years	Residence of Dow, Waimea West	95/2531		Rev. J. H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister
47	6 August 1895	Arthur Thomas Johnson Charlesemma Adamson Grant Roberts	Arthur Thomas Johnson Charlesenna Adamant Grant Roberts 💍 1895/1201	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	26 21	Wakefield (2 miles from Post Office) Grove Street, Nelson	All his life 21 years	Residence of Roberts, Grove Street, Nelson	95/2532		Rev. J. H. McKenzie, Presbyterian 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).