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 Registrar Doxford

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

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

No	41
Date of Notice	8 July 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Silvers Gresswell	Kate Reeves
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Silvers Cresswell	Kate Reeves
	💍 1895/1197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Church Street, Nelson	Collingwood Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	17 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard Harman, Collingwood Street, Nelson
Folio	95/2529
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister

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

No	42
Date of Notice	22 July 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Clan McKenzie	Margaret Elizabeth Garnett
BDM Match (78%)	James Clark McArtney	Margaret Elizabeth Barnett
	💍 1895/1199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Manufacturer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Bridge Street, Nelson	Waimea Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Henry Bond, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	95/2530
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. James H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister

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

No	43
Date of Notice	24 July 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brock	Mary Hammond
	💍 1895/1204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Richmond
Length of Residence	29 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Richmond
Folio	95/2536
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. P. Cachemaille, Church of England Minister

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

No	44
Date of Notice	29 July 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Russell Richardson	Frances Maud Dyer
BDM Match (97%)	James Russell Richardson	Frances Maude Dyer
	💍 1895/1205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	New Street, Nelson	Hastings Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Nelson
Folio	95/2537
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. P. Cachemaille, Church of England Minister

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

No	45
Date of Notice	29 July 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Simmons	Louisa Harris
BDM Match (98%)	Henry James Simmonds	Louisa Harris
	💍 1895/1186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Milton Street, Nelson	Milton Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Edward Harris, Milton Street, Nelson
Folio	95/2528
Consent	Thomas Edward Harris, Father
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Bond, Wesleyan Minister

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

No	46
Date of Notice	6 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Dow	Barbara Edith Dow
BDM Match (87%)	William Joseph Ford	Barbara Edith Dron
	💍 1895/1200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Waimea West	Waimea West
Length of Residence	32 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Dow, Waimea West
Folio	95/2531
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister

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

No	47
Date of Notice	6 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thomas Johnson	Charlesemma Adamson Grant Roberts
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Thomas Johnson	Charlesenna Adamant Grant Roberts
	💍 1895/1201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wakefield (2 miles from Post Office)	Grove Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	All his life	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Roberts, Grove Street, Nelson
Folio	95/2532
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).