Intentions to Marry, 1897 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840411, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

1897 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 751

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1897

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
14	6 April 1897	Alfred Bradcock Emily Davis Westley	Alfred Bradcock Emily Davis Westley 💍 1897/1013	Bachelor Spinster	Cabproprietor Domestic Servant	25 19	Vanguard Street Nelson Washington Road Nelson	7 years 19 years	The residence of Harriet Bradcock, Vanguard Street Nelson	97/1864	William Westley, Father	6 April 1897	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England minister
15	19 April 1897	Charles Eastabrook Annie Dorothy Snodgrass	Charles Eastabrook Annie Dorothy Snodgrass 💍 1897/1038	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	38 30	Collingwood Street, Nelson Selwyn Place	3 Days 14 years	St Johns Wesleyan Church, Hardy Street Nelson	97/1871		19 April 1897	Geo Bond, Wesleyan minister
16	20 April 1897	George William Bayent Catherine Christina Stewart	George William Baigent Catherine Christina Stewart 💍 1897/1015	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	32 24	Wakefield Gloucester Street	30 years 24 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street Nelson	97/1865		20 April 1897	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England minister
17	20 April 1897	Alfred Ernest Higgins Mary Ann Hammond	Alfred Ernest Higgins Mary Ann Hammond 💍 1897/1042	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 23	Appleby Nelson Waimea West	3 Days 23 years	Residence of John Hammond, Waimea West	97/1872		20 April 1897	A. C. Wright, Church of England minister
18	21 April 1897	Ebenezer Hale Fanny Sowman	Ebenezer Hale Fanny Sowman 💍 1897/1016	Bachelor Spinster	Nurseryman Saleswoman	33 30	Waimea Road Nelson Hardy Street	4 Days 30 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street Nelson	97/1866		21 April 1897	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England minister
19	21 April 1897	Henry Charles Sigley Lillie Cornelia Goodwin	Henry Charles Sigley Lillie Cornelia Goodwin 💍 1897/1017	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Tailoress	25 19	Hardy Street Bridge Street	2 years 19 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street Nelson	97/1867	Mary Goodwin, mother	21 April 1897	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England minister
20	24 April 1897	Francis Edgar Sutton Ellen Catherine OBrien	Francis Edgar Sutton Ellen Catherine OBrien 💍 1897/1031	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	27 27	Hope Gloucester Street Nelson	4 years 6 months	Catholic Station, Manuka Street Nelson	97/1883		24 April 1897	W. P. Mahoney, Roman Catholic priest
21	26 April 1897	Benjamin Charles Eglinton Alice Palmer	Benjamin Charles Eglinton Alice Palmer 💍 1897/1029	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	24 26	Residence of Harriet Hope Hope	8 Days 26 years	Wesleyan Chapel, Hope	97/1881		26 April 1897	S. T. Marshall, Wesleyan minister
22	7 May 1897	Alfred Albert Kennedy Sloane Alma Oxnam	Alfred Albert Kennedy Sloane Alma Oxnam 💍 1897/1047	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Duties	25 22	Gloucester Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	3 Days 3 years	Baptist Church, Bridge Street Nelson	97/1878		7 May 1897	R. S. Gray, Baptist minister
23	15 May 1897	James Reilly Margaret Genevieve Byrne	James Reilly Margaret Josephine Byrne 💍 1897/1032	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	30 31	Bridge Street Hardy Street	3 years 14 years	St Marys Church, Manuka Street Nelson	97/1884		15 May 1897	W. P. Mahoney, Roman Catholic priest
24	19 May 1897	Francis Godfrey Gledhill Edith Russell	Francis Godfrey Gledhill Edith Russell 💍 1897/1043	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer's Assistant Tailoress	21 20	Waimea St Vincent	2 years 20 years	St Johns Wesleyan Church, Hardy Street Nelson	97/1873		19 May 1897	Rev. S. T. Prior, Wesleyan Minister
25	21 May 1897	Clarence James McEachern Elizabeth Jane Grant	Clarence James McEachan Elizabeth Jane Grant 💍 1897/1018 William Laird Elizabeth Jane Grant 💍 1897/2303	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Railway Dept Dressmaker	23 22	Nile Street East Vanguard Street	23 years 22 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street Nelson	97/1868		21 May 1897	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England minister
26	28 May 1897	James Hill Eliza Allen	James Hill Eliza Allen 💍 1897/1019	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Porter Domestic Servant	21 21	Haven Road Hardy Street	8 years 4 years	My own residence, Haven Road Nelson	97/1869		28 May 1897	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England minister
27	31 May 1897	Carl Johan Olivecrona Flora Cooper In Donald	Carl Johan Olivecrona Flora Cooper McDonald 💍 1897/1045	Bachelor Spinster	Wool Merchant	42 20	Brougham Brougham	3 Days 1 year	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street East Nelson	97/1875		31 May 1897	H. McKenzie, Presbyterian minister
28	7 June 1897	John Leahy Annie Amelia Schwarz	John Leahy Annie Amelia Schwas 💍 1897/1033 John Leahy Agnes Louisa Galvin 💍 1897/3899	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	27 21	Waimea West Waimea West	20 years 21 years	Roman Catholic Church, Waimea West	97/1885		7 June 1897	W. P. 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).