Intentions to Marry, 1897 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840412, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

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

Page 728

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 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
54	7 October 1897	William Henry Moore Sarah Avery	William Henry Moore Davis Sarah Avery 💍 1897/2785 William Henry Wills Catherine Avery 💍 1897/1350	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 22	Richmond Nelson Richmond	24 years 22 years	Trinity Church, Nelson	97/4159		7 October 1897	A. C. Wright, Church of England Minister
55	15 October 1897	Ernest Stratford Harriet Palmer	Ernest Stratford Sarah Elizabeth Hart 💍 1897/2789	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep-farmer Domestic	23 25	Hope Hope	23 years 12 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	97/4141		15 October 1897	H. Calders, Registrar
56	19 October 1897	William James Neal Harriel Palmer	William James Neal Harriet Palmer 💍 1897/2778	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	25 25	Hope Hope	18 years 25 years	The residence of William Palmer, Hope	97/4153		19 October 1897	J. W. Baker, Church of England Minister
57	25 October 1897	Stephen Avery Sarah Ann Mills	Stephen Avery Sarah Ann Mills 💍 1897/2793	Widower Widow	Farmer	58 34	Richmond Richmond	28 years 5 years	Holy Trinity Church, Richmond	97/4160		25 October 1897	A. C. Wright, Church of England Minister
58	27 October 1897	John Whitelaw Matilda Ingham	John Whitelaw Harris Matilda Ingham 💍 1897/2771	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Tailoress	30 30	Russell Street St Vincent Street	13 years 30 years	Residence of Jane Dylam, St Vincent Street, Nelson	97/4146		27 October 1897	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
59	1 November 1897	George Eustace Nalder Lucy Packer	George Eustace Nalder Lucy Packer 💍 1897/2790	Bachelor Spinster	Assistant Sheep-farmer Governess	20 28	Brook Street Rock Road	3 weeks 3 days	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	97/4142	William Nalder, father; Catherine Cooper, mother	1 November 1897	H. Calders, Registrar
60	8 November 1897	John Alfred Stringer Ada Cooper	John Alfred Stringer Ada Cooper 💍 1897/2775	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Shop Assistant	34 20	Haven Road Rentoul Street, off Washington Road	33 years 16 months	His own residence, Haven Road	97/4150		8 November 1897	J. H. MacKenzie, Presbyterian Minister
61	19 November 1897	William Schroder Anna Sophia Elizabeth Ranzan	William Schroder Emma Soppia Elizabeth Neumann 💍 1897/2779	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	26 22	Hope Waimea West	26 years 5 months	Lutheran Church, Ranzan	97/4154		19 November 1897	Johann C. G. Thiel, Lutheran Minister
62	22 November 1897	George Francis Smith Bertha Jay	George Francis Smith Bertha Gay 💍 1897/2772	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Stoke New Street	25 years 21 years	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	97/4147		22 November 1897	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
63	23 November 1897	Richard Thomas Mary McKenzie (nee Richard)	Richard Thomas Mary McKenzie 💍 1897/2776 Richard Thomas Sarah Alice Nickless 💍 1897/4454	Widower Widow	Cab Proprietor Housekeeper	43 28	Vanguard Street Nelson	38 years 28 years	The residence of Richard Thomas, Nelson	97/4151		23 November 1897	J. H. MacKenzie, Presbyterian Minister
64	8 December 1897	Robert Haldane Sarah Hale	Robert Haldane Sarah Hale 💍 1897/2773	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	28 35	Hardy Street Waimea Road	3 days 30 years	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	97/4148		8 December 1897	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
65	10 December 1897	Joseph Busch Sarah Ellen James	Joseph Busch Sarah Ellen James 💍 1897/2774	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic Duties	31 21	Brougham Street Kawai	31 years 3 years	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	97/4149		10 December 1897	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
66	15 December 1897	Robert William Smith Fanny Sutton	Robert William Smith Fanny Sutton 💍 1897/2791	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Domestic Duties	21 21	Hope Hope	5 years 9 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	97/4143		15 December 1897	H. Calders, Registrar
67	21 December 1897	James Munro Bessie Harfield James	James Monro Bessie Hadfield Jackson 💍 1897/3076	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer Domestic	35 30	Nile Street East Examiner Street	5 days 30 years	Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson	97/4570		21 December 1897	J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
68	21 December 1897	James Hubert Christison Ethel Louisa Whiting	James Herbert Christall Corby Ethel Louisa Whiting 💍 1897/2781	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	23 21	Ngatimoti Street Brook	3 years 21 years	The residence of David Whiting, Brook Street, Nelson	97/4155		21 December 1897	R. S. Fray, Baptist Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).