Intentions to Marry, 1901 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840420, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 22 2025

1901 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 128

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1907

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
1	5 January 1907	Cecil Conrad Nash Ellen Jane Hyland	Cecil Conrad Nash Ellen Jane Hyland 💍 1901/435	Bachelor Spinster	Gas Fitter Domestic Servant	26 25	Waimea Street, Nelson Waimea Street, Nelson	26 years 6 years	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson	01/754		5 January 1907	Dean Mahoney, Roman Catholic Priest
2	8 January 1907	Albert Edward Neuth Sarah Buschl	Albert Edward Newth Sarah Buschl 💍 1901/383	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	36 28	Waimea West Waimea East	20 years 28 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	01/749		8 January 1907	Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
3	14 January 1907	Henry Edward Edridge Annie Maria Strawbridge	Henry Edward Edridge Annie Maria Strawbridge 💍 1901/417	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor Dressmaker	23 22	St Vincent Street, Nelson St Vincent Street, Nelson	4 days 22 years	Residence of Mrs Strawbridge, St Vincent Street, Nelson	01/760		14 January 1907	Rev. R. S. Gray, Baptist Minister, Nelson
4	15 January 1907	David Scott Jessie Clark Burrell	David Scott Jessie Clark Burrell 💍 1901/439	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic Servant	33 29	Washington Road, Nelson Washington Road, Nelson	33 years 3 weeks	Residence of Mrs Martha Scott, Washington Road, Nelson	01/759		15 January 1907	Rev. R. S. Gray, Baptist Minister
5	29 January 1907	James Wilson Elizabeth Heath Rowe	James Wilson Elizabeth Heath Neve 💍 1901/419 James Wilson Elizabeth Steele 💍 1901/5393 James Wilson Margaret Banks 💍 1901/5930 James Wilson Sarah Ellen Elizabeth Spinks 💍 1901/886	Bachelor Spinster	Wood Carver Domestic Duties	18 19	Waimea Street, Nelson Waimea Road, Nelson	10 months 19 years	Residence of Mrs Augustus Rowe, Waimea Road, Nelson	01/762	Mary Ann Wilson, Mother, Sole Guardian (for groom); Augustus Rowe, Stepfather (for bride)	29 January 1907	Rev. F. A. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
6	30 January 1907	Joseph Alfred Fletcher Mary Louisa Riley	Joseph Alfred Fletcher Mary Louisa Riley 💍 1901/420	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Domestic Duties	36 41	Bridge Street, Nelson Hardy Street, Nelson	3 days 3 weeks	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	01/763		30 January 1907	Rev. J. F. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
7	30 January 1907	William George Young Lily Nesbit	William George Young Lily Nesbit 💍 1901/438	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic Duties	23 19	Brook Street, Nelson Grove Street, Nelson	3 years 19 years	Residence of Thomas Nesbit, Grove Street, Nelson	01/757	Thomas Nesbit, Father	30 January 1907	Rev. J. S. Smalley, Wesleyan Minister
8	1 February 1907	John Hudson Mary Anna Allen	John Hudson Mary Anna Allen 💍 1901/6190	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Domestic Servant	24 18	Nile Street, Nelson Hardy Street, Nelson	2 years 18 years	Residence of the Bridegroom, Waimea Street, Nelson	01/758	Benjamin James Allen, Father	1 February 1907	Rev. J. S. Smalley, Wesleyan Minister
9	4 February 1907	Edward James Blick Edie Mabel Chisholm	Edward James Blick Elsie Mabel Chisholm 💍 1901/421	Bachelor Spinster	Leather Manufacturer Domestic Duties	38 23	Brook Street, Nelson Harper Street, Nelson	38 years 23 years	Residence of William Sedman, Harper Street, Nelson	01/764		4 February 1907	Rev. J. H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister
10	5 February 1907	Lewis Kingston Sarah Hannah Patching	Lewis Hingston Sarah Hannah Patching 💍 1901/422	Bachelor Spinster	Fruiterer Shop Assistant	31 25	Tipahi Street, Nelson Vanguard Street, Nelson	2 years 25 years	Residence of James Patching, Vanguard Street, Nelson	01/765		5 February 1907	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 1901. 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).