Intentions to Marry, 1900 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840418, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 12 2025

1900 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 857

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1900 Registrar Hugh Calders

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
53	10 October 1900	Mority Friedlander Emily Gertrude Goucher	Moritz Friedlander Emily Gertrude Croucher 💍 1900/4896	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant Domestic duties	46 21	Queen Street Richmond Queen Street Richmond	3 days 21 years	Holy Trinity Church Richmond	00/4904	10 October 1900	Reverend A. C. Wright, Church of England Minister
54	23 November 1900	Hedley Lancaster France Hannah Taylor	Hedley Muncaster France Hannah Naylor 💍 1900/5468	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanical Engineer Domestic duties	27 23	Hardy Street Nelson Shelbourne Street Nelson	17 months 3 years	Christchurch, Trafalgar Square Nelson	00/5673	23 November 1900	Reverend J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
55	7 December 1900	William Joseph Pennery Phoebe Hammond	William Joseph Penney Phoebe Hammond 💍 1900/4893 William Joseph Barker Eliza Hammond 💍 1900/5703	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman Domestic duties	25 25	Kawai Street Nelson Gladstone Road Richmond	25 years 25 years	The Baptist Church, Queen Street Richmond	00/4901	7 December 1900	Reverend R. S. Gray, Baptist Minister
56	7 December 1900	Edward Hope Kidd Vera France	Edward Hope Kidd Vera France 💍 1900/5469	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer School Teacher	23 21	Hope Hardy Street Nelson	23 years 19 years	Christchurch, Trafalgar Square Nelson	00/5674	7 December 1900	Reverend J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
57	14 December 1900	George Burney Edith Sarah Hirst	George Burney Edith Sarah Hurst 💍 1900/4898	Bachelor Spinster	Glazier Domestic duties	27 23	69 Ellis Street Wellington St Vincent Street Nelson	5 weeks 1 year	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street Nelson	00/4906	14 December 1900	Reverend F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
58	15 December 1900	Nelson Benjamin Levis Maud Pratt	Nelson Benjamin Levien Maud Pratt 💍 1900/4137	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Household duties	31 25	Nile Street Nelson Milton Street Nelson	3 days 25 years	Chapel of the Holy Evangelist, Bishopdale Nelson	00/4909	15 December 1900	Reverend F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
59	20 December 1900	Robert William Stiles Mary Ann Spencer	Robert William Stiles Mary Ann Spencer 💍 1900/4897	Widower Spinster	Painter Domestic duties	34 31	Alton Street Nelson Waimea Street Nelson	23 years 31 years	Residence of William Spencer, Waimea Street Nelson	00/4905	20 December 1900	Reverend F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
60	24 December 1900	Samuel Phillips Emily Eden	Samuel Phillips Emily Eden 💍 1900/5529	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer Domestic Servant	25 23	Hope Hope	3 days 5 weeks	Wesleyan Chapel, Hope	00/5842	24 December 1900	Reverend J. S. Carr, Wesleyan Minister
61	24 December 1900	George Wallace Webber Ethel Amy Crump	George William Wallace Webber Ethel Amy Crump 💍 1900/4895	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer Music Teacher	25 25	Bridge Street Nelson Cambria Street Nelson	4 days 25 years	St Johns Wesleyan Church, Nelson	00/4903	24 December 1900	Reverend J. Crump, Wesleyan Minister
62	26 December 1900	James Carter Lydia East	James Carter Lydia East 💍 1900/4120	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Tailoress	27 23	Shelbourne Street Nelson Cambria Street Nelson	4 days 23 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street Nelson	00/4907	26 December 1900	Reverend F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
63	27 December 1900	Thomas Frank Bee May Isabell Chalmers	Thomas Frank Dee May Isabell Chalmers 💍 1900/4131	Bachelor Spinster	Carriage Painter Domestic duties	27 22	Collingwood Street Nelson Manuka Street Nelson	4 days 20 years	The residence of Mrs Annie V. Chalmers, Manuka Street Nelson	00/4908	27 December 1900	Reverend F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
64	27 December 1900	Samuel Ralston Bond Smilla Eve Coleman	Samuel Ralston Bourdot Servilla Eve Coleman 💍 1900/4894	Widower Spinster	Boot Finisher Domestic duties	37 23	Wakefield Quay Nelson Wakefield Quay Nelson	2 months 5 days	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	00/4902	27 December 1900	Robert Kaye, Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
65	28 December 1900	Alfred Paynter Ethel Alice Green	Alfred Paynter Ethel Alice Green 💍 1900/4138	Bachelor Spinster	Orchardist Domestic Servant	25 24	Stoke Stoke	5 years 3 years	The residence of Reverend J. H. Mackenzie, Nile Street East Nelson	00/4910	28 December 1900	Reverend Jas. A. Mackenzie, 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 1899. 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).