Intentions to Marry, 1908 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840437, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1908 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1908a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1908b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1908c).

Page 693

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar S. 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

11 March 1908

John Lamplow Trower
Lizzie Deal

John Samplow Trower
Lizzie Deal
💍 1908/1154

Bachelor
Widow

Hotelkeeper
Housekeeper

53
48

Bridge St. Nelson
Waimea Road Nelson

3 days
4 years

Residence of Rev. J. H. Mackenzie, Nile St. East, Nelson

08/1174

11 March 1908

Rev. J. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian Minister, Nelson

No	16
Date of Notice	11 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lamplow Trower	Lizzie Deal
BDM Match (97%)	John Samplow Trower	Lizzie Deal
	💍 1908/1154
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Housekeeper
Age	53	48
Dwelling Place	Bridge St. Nelson	Waimea Road Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. H. Mackenzie, Nile St. East, Nelson
Folio	08/1174
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian Minister, Nelson

12 March 1908

Albert Stephney Mills
Susan Elizabeth Higginson

Albert Stephney Mills
Susan Elizabeth Higginson
💍 1908/1140

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
30

Tipahi St. Nelson
Tipahi St. Nelson

4 weeks
4 weeks

Residence of James Mills, Tipahi St. Nelson

See note

12 March 1908

C. H. Garland, Methodist Minister, Nelson

No	17
Date of Notice	12 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Stephney Mills	Susan Elizabeth Higginson
	💍 1908/1140
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Tipahi St. Nelson	Tipahi St. Nelson
Length of Residence	4 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of James Mills, Tipahi St. Nelson
Folio	See note
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1908
Officiating Minister	C. H. Garland, Methodist Minister, Nelson

16 March 1908

Charles Richmond Fell
Phyllis Lee Buchanan

Charles Richmond Fell
Phyllis Lee Buchanan
💍 1908/1156

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister & Solicitor

25
25

Brougham St. Nelson
Collingwood St. Nelson

5 years
1 year

Christ Church, Trafalgar St., Nelson

08/1176

16 March 1908

Rev. J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister, Nelson

No	18
Date of Notice	16 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Richmond Fell	Phyllis Lee Buchanan
	💍 1908/1156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister & Solicitor
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Brougham St. Nelson	Collingwood St. Nelson
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Trafalgar St., Nelson
Folio	08/1176
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister, Nelson

23 March 1908

Archibald Ogilvie
Emily Beatrice Smith

Archibald Ogilvie
Emily Beatrice Smith
💍 1908/1139

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach trimmer
Domestic duties

48
21

Hardy St. Nelson
Hardy St. Nelson

48 years
12 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

08/1182

23 March 1908

S. Blomfield, Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

No	19
Date of Notice	23 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Ogilvie	Emily Beatrice Smith
	💍 1908/1139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach trimmer	Domestic duties
Age	48	21
Dwelling Place	Hardy St. Nelson	Hardy St. Nelson
Length of Residence	48 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	08/1182
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1908
Officiating Minister	S. Blomfield, Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

25 March 1908

Albert Stephney Mills
Susan Elizabeth Higginson

Albert Stephney Mills
Susan Elizabeth Higginson
💍 1908/1140

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
30

Tipahi St. Nelson
Tipahi St. Nelson

6 weeks
6 weeks

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

08/1183

25 March 1908

G. R. Selby, Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

No	20
Date of Notice	25 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Stephney Mills	Susan Elizabeth Higginson
	💍 1908/1140
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Tipahi St. Nelson	Tipahi St. Nelson
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	08/1183
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1908
Officiating Minister	G. R. Selby, Deputy Registrar of Marriages, 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 1908. 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).