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 131

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar S. 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
29	15 April 1901	Henry Edmund Frost Marion Fleming	Henry Edmund Frost Marion Fleming 💍 1901/1960	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	24 25	Wakapuaka Milton Street, Nelson	6 months 4 years	At the residence of Mr. George Glover, Milton Street, Nelson	01/2303		15 April 1901	Rev. J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
30	19 April 1901	Ernest Malcolm Mary Ann Thomas	Ernest Malcolm Mary Ann Thomas 💍 1901/1978	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	23 21	Richmond Richmond	2 years 21 years	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	01/2297		19 April 1901	S. Blomfield, Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
31	22 April 1901	William Watson Lindsay Mary Georgina Dunn	William Watson Livesey Mary Georgina Dunn 💍 1901/1971	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	30 30	Hope, Nelson Brightwater	3 weeks 2 years	Holy Trinity Church, Richmond	01/2313		22 April 1901	Rev. C. E. Livesay, Church of England Minister
32	27 April 1901	Albert James Lawson Caroline Busch	Albert James Pawson Caroline Busch 💍 1901/1969	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Domestic Servant	23 20	Vanguard Street, Nelson Hope, Nelson	5 years 20 years	At the residence of Mrs. Minnie Lammos, Hope	01/2312	Minnie Lammos, Mother	27 April 1901	Rev. A. G. Wright, Church of England Minister
33	29 April 1901	William David Moss Elsie Florence Neaver	William David Moss Elsie Florence Weaver 💍 1901/1979	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Duties	26 21	Haven Road, Nelson The Port, Nelson	4 days 8 days	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	01/2298		29 April 1901	S. Blomfield, Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
34	6 May 1901	William Edward Halkey Matilda Braddock	William Edward Walkey Matilda Braddock 💍 1901/1963	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Dressmaker	24 26	Haimea Street, Nelson Wellington Terrace, Nelson	19 years 26 years	At the residence of John Braddock, Wellington Terrace, Nelson	01/2306		6 May 1901	Rev. J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
35	7 May 1901	Joseph Sigley Margaret Madigan	Joseph Ligley Margaret Madigan 💍 1901/3134	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Household Duties	35 25	Trafalgar Street, Nelson Grove Street, Nelson	3 days 3 days	At the residence of Edward Madigan, Grove Street, Nelson	01/3664		7 May 1901	Rev. George Mahoney, Roman Catholic Priest
36	7 May 1901	John Robert Pawson Amy Coles		Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Household Duties	21 17	Vanguard Street, Nelson Collingwood Street, Nelson	3 days 8 years	At the residence of Rev. J. W. Chatterton, Vanguard Street	01/2305	Elizabeth Coles, Mother	7 May 1901	Rev. J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
37	9 May 1901	William Denis Porter Holland Rose May Grant	William Denis Porter Holland Rose May Grant 💍 1901/3566	Bachelor Spinster	Soapmaker Household Duties	19 18	Naimea Road, Nelson Vanguard Street, Nelson	8 years 19 years	At the residence of William Holland, Naimea Road, Nelson	01/4038	William Holland, Father; Alexander Grant, Father	9 May 1901	Rev. J. P. Kempthorne, 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 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).