Intentions to Marry, 1902 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840422, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke and Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 3 and October 8, 2025.

1902 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 141

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1902 Registrar I. Sidney Blomfield

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

24 December 1902

Frank William Ching
Annie Bones

Frank William Ching
Annie Bones
💍 1903/877

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman
Domestic Servant

25
22

Stoke
Stoke

3 days
1 day

Residence of James Ching, Stoke

03/846

24 December 1902

J. G. Carr, Wesleyan Minister

No	78
Date of Notice	24 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Ching	Annie Bones
	💍 1903/877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman	Domestic Servant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Stoke
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day
Marriage Place	Residence of James Ching, Stoke
Folio	03/846
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1902
Officiating Minister	J. G. Carr, Wesleyan Minister

24 December 1902

Alfred Lewis Smith
Elsie May Ruff

Alfred Lewis Smith
Elsie May Ruff
💍 1902/5729

Widower
Spinster

Stationer
Domestic Duties

29
20

29 St John's Street, Nelson
St John's Street, Nelson

3 days
3 weeks

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

02/5508

Mary Ann Ruff, Mother

24 December 1902

Jas H. MacKenzie, Presbyterian Minister

No	79
Date of Notice	24 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Lewis Smith	Elsie May Ruff
	💍 1902/5729
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Stationer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	29 St John's Street, Nelson	St John's Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	02/5508
Consent	Mary Ann Ruff, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Jas H. MacKenzie, Presbyterian Minister

24 December 1902

Frederick Knight
Emily Jane Hart

Frederick Knight
Emily Jane Hart
💍 1902/5712

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

24
21

24 Milton Street, Nelson
Milton Street, Nelson

10 days
4 years

Residence of William Whiting, Milton Street, Nelson

02/5513

24 December 1902

W. J. Williams, Wesleyan Minister

No	80
Date of Notice	24 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Knight	Emily Jane Hart
	💍 1902/5712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	24 Milton Street, Nelson	Milton Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	10 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Whiting, Milton Street, Nelson
Folio	02/5513
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1902
Officiating Minister	W. J. Williams, Wesleyan Minister

29 December 1902

Charles John Harford
Elizabeth Louisa Riehagen

Charles John Harford
Elizabeth Louisa Krahagen
💍 1902/248

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Dressmaker

32
27

32 Collingwood Street, Nelson
27 Wellington Street, Nelson

3 days
14 days

All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

02/5502

29 December 1902

E. B. Robson, Church of England Minister

No	81
Date of Notice	29 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Harford	Elizabeth Louisa Riehagen
BDM Match (94%)	Charles John Harford	Elizabeth Louisa Krahagen
	💍 1902/248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Dressmaker
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	32 Collingwood Street, Nelson	27 Wellington Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	02/5502
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1902
Officiating Minister	E. B. Robson, Church of England Minister

29 December 1902

Samuel David Savage
Emily Jane Pitts

Samuel David Savage
Emily Jane Pitts
💍 1902/5733

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor's Cutter
Household Duties

27
32

Collingwood Street, Nelson
Harper Street, Nelson

3 days
1 month

Residence of Mr. Louis Pitts, Harper Street, Nelson

02/5512

29 December 1902

Edward Lewis, Minister Church of Christ

No	82
Date of Notice	29 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel David Savage	Emily Jane Pitts
	💍 1902/5733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor's Cutter	Household Duties
Age	27	32
Dwelling Place	Collingwood Street, Nelson	Harper Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Louis Pitts, Harper Street, Nelson
Folio	02/5512
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Edward Lewis, Minister Church of Christ

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 1903. 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).