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 264

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar H. A. P. Ledger

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

2 March 1897

Stephen Egginton
Alice Maud Johnson

Stephen Egginton
Alice May Johnson
💍 1897/4618

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

24
22

Beachville, Nelson
Hardy Street, Nelson

3 days
22 years

All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

97/623

2 March 1897

Rev. F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister

No	9
Date of Notice	2 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Egginton	Alice Maud Johnson
BDM Match (94%)	Stephen Egginton	Alice May Johnson
	💍 1897/4618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Beachville, Nelson	Hardy Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	97/623
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister

4 March 1897

Charles Mills
Emily Nisbet

Charles Mills
Emily Nisbet
💍 1897/4615

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Domestic Servant

25
19

Tasman Street, Nelson
Grove Street, Nelson

25 years
19 years

Residence of Thomas Nisbet, Grove Street, Nelson

97/621

Thomas Nisbet, father

4 March 1897

Rev. R. S. B. Grace, Baptist Minister

No	10
Date of Notice	4 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Mills	Emily Nisbet
	💍 1897/4615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Domestic Servant
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Tasman Street, Nelson	Grove Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	25 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Nisbet, Grove Street, Nelson
Folio	97/621
Consent	Thomas Nisbet, father
Date of Certificate	4 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. B. Grace, Baptist Minister

8 March 1897

John Ernest Whiting
Esther Sowman

John Ernest Whiting
Esther Sowman
💍 1897/4619

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic Servant

25
21

Brook Street, Nelson
Nile Street East, Nelson

2 years
21 years

Residence of David Whiting, Brook Street, Nelson

97/624

8 March 1897

Rev. F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister

No	11
Date of Notice	8 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Whiting	Esther Sowman
	💍 1897/4619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic Servant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Brook Street, Nelson	Nile Street East, Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of David Whiting, Brook Street, Nelson
Folio	97/624
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister

15 March 1897

Henry Urbin Coles
Ada Louisa Kerr

Henry Urbin Coles
Ada Louisa Kerr
💍 1897/4620

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
19

Collingwood Street, Nelson
Collingwood Street, Nelson

16 years
19 years

All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

97/625

John Walter Kerr, father

15 March 1897

Rev. F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister

No	12
Date of Notice	15 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Urbin Coles	Ada Louisa Kerr
	💍 1897/4620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Collingwood Street, Nelson	Collingwood Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	16 years	19 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	97/625
Consent	John Walter Kerr, father
Date of Certificate	15 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister

20 March 1897

Frederick Clement Greenwood
Alice Katherine Price

Frederick Clement Greenwood
Alice Katherine Pike
💍 1897/4617

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
31

Stoke
Stoke

3 days
1 month

English Church, Appleby

97/622

20 March 1897

Rev. W. Geo. Baxter, Church of England Minister

No	13
Date of Notice	20 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Clement Greenwood	Alice Katherine Price
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick Clement Greenwood	Alice Katherine Pike
	💍 1897/4617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Stoke
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	English Church, Appleby
Folio	97/622
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Geo. Baxter, 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 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).