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 132

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar Sydney Blomfield

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
38	14 May 1907	Herbert Johnston Amy Louisa Haycock	Herbert Johnston Amy Louisa Haycock 💍 1901/1966	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Household duties	30 31	Teka Street, Nelson Richmond	5 years 1 year	The Baptist Church, Richmond	01/2309	14 May 1907	Revd. R. S. Gray, Baptist Minister
39	25 May 1907	John Hells Margaret Graham	John Wells Margaret Graham 💍 1901/1964	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Household duties	32 29	Gloucester Street, Nelson Gloucester Street, Nelson	3 days 3 days	At the residence of Mrs. Hamorick, Gloucester Street, Nelson	01/2307	25 May 1907	Revd. J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
40	29 May 1907	James Remnant Rosa Adeline Savage	James Remnant Rosa Adeline Savage 💍 1901/1980	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Household duties	28 25	Hardy Street, Nelson Hardy Street, Nelson	5 days 25 years	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	01/2299	29 May 1907	S. Blomfield, Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
41	29 May 1907	Joseph Laffin Sarah Ann Pierson	Joseph Laffin Sarah Ann Pierson 💍 1901/3135	Bachelor Spinster	Express driver Domestic Servant	24 27	Vanguard Street, Nelson South Street, Nelson	9 years 4 years	At the residence of William Robertson, Haimea Street, Nelson	01/3665	29 May 1907	Revd. W. J. Mahoney, Roman Catholic Priest
42	30 May 1907	Thomas Andrew Barry Nora Monica Levy	Thomas Andrew Barry Norah Monica Levy 💍 1901/3136	Widower Spinster	Sailor Household duties	28 30	Teka Street, Nelson Halifax Street, Nelson	18 months 5 months	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson	01/3666	30 May 1907	Revd. W. J. Mahoney, Roman Catholic Priest
43	3 June 1907	Claude Edward Ellis Alice Emily Cooke	Claude Everard Ellis Alice Emily Cooke 💍 1901/1965	Bachelor Spinster	Carriage Builder Household duties	31 29	Trafalgar Street, Nelson Examiner Street, Nelson	3 days 3 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	01/2308	3 June 1907	Revd. J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
44	7 June 1907	Charles Bonner Mary Leah White	Charles Bonner Mary McLeod White 💍 1901/1975 Charles Robert Lauren Mary Maud White 💍 1902/807	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner Household duties	28 25	Mary Ann Street, Nelson Mary Ann Street, Nelson	3 days 2 days	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson	01/2317	7 June 1907	Revd. J. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian Minister
45	11 June 1907	Leonard McGowan Violet Barbara Rutherford	Leonard McGowan Violet Barbara Rutherford 💍 1901/2678	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Household duties	25 25	Cambria Street, Nelson Hope	3 days 25 years	Wesleyan Church, Hope	01/3015	11 June 1907	Revd. J. S. Smalley, Wesleyan Minister
46	13 June 1907	William Henry Turner Edith Lucy Archer	William Henry Turner Edith Lucy Archer 💍 1901/1981	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman Household duties	27 21	Bridge Street, Nelson Bridge Street, Nelson	3 days 3 days	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	01/2300	13 June 1907	S. Blomfield, Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
47	19 June 1907	George William Patchett Minnie Nuttall	George William Patchett Minnie Nuthall 💍 1901/1967	Bachelor Spinster	Engine driver Household duties	25 28	Collingwood Street, Nelson Collingwood Street, Nelson	3 days 2 weeks	Baptist Church, Collingwood Street, Nelson	01/2310	19 June 1907	Revd. R. S. Gray, Baptist Minister, Nelson

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).