Intentions to Marry, 1909 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840440, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 686

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1909 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

101

21 December 1909

Richard Gill Tregidga
Florence Ethel McNabb

Richard Gill Tregidga
Florence Ethel McNabb
💍 1909/7763

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic duties

31
26

on board cutter 'Matakana'
Wakefield Quay Nelson

-
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

09/7062

21 December 1909

Rev. J. H. Mackenzie Presbyterian Minister

No	101
Date of Notice	21 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Gill Tregidga	Florence Ethel McNabb
	💍 1909/7763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	on board cutter 'Matakana'	Wakefield Quay Nelson
Length of Residence	-	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	09/7062
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Mackenzie Presbyterian Minister

102

22 December 1909

John Henry Croawell
May Jane Hughes

John Henry Croawell
May June Hughes
💍 1909/8236

Widower
Widow

Carrier
Domestic duties

41
30

Trafalgar Street Nelson
Trafalgar Street Nelson

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

09/7079

22 December 1909

The Registrar of Marriages Nelson

No	102
Date of Notice	22 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Croawell	May Jane Hughes
BDM Match (97%)	John Henry Croawell	May June Hughes
	💍 1909/8236
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	41	30
Dwelling Place	Trafalgar Street Nelson	Trafalgar Street Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	09/7079
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1909
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages Nelson

103

29 December 1909

Robert Burgess
Maud Esther Robinson

Robert Burgess
Maud Esther Robinson
💍 1910/1430

Bachelor
Spinster

Missionary
Domestic duties

25
26

Taihape
Richmond, Nelson

26 years

Church of England, Richmond, Nelson

10/1226

29 December 1909

Rev. A. J. Carr Church of England Minister

No	103
Date of Notice	29 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Burgess	Maud Esther Robinson
	💍 1910/1430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Missionary	Domestic duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Richmond, Nelson
Length of Residence		26 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Richmond, Nelson
Folio	10/1226
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr Church of England Minister

104

29 December 1909

Thomas Robinson
Grace Sowman

Thomas Robinson
Grace Sowman
💍 1909/5711

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

31
22

Tory Street Nelson
Tory Street Nelson

3 days
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

09/7063

29 December 1909

Rev. J. H. Mackenzie Presbyterian Minister

No	104
Date of Notice	29 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robinson	Grace Sowman
	💍 1909/5711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Tory Street Nelson	Tory Street Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	09/7063
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Mackenzie Presbyterian Minister

105

31 December 1909

Frederick Nelson Jones Jr.
Ivy Adelaide Florence Dougan

Frederick Nelson Jones Jr
Ivy Adelaide Florence Dougan
💍 1910/1220

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer
Domestic duties

28
21

Halifax Street Nelson
St. John Street Nelson

28 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

10/1227

31 December 1909

Rev. J. H. Mackenzie Presbyterian Minister

No	105
Date of Notice	31 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Nelson Jones Jr.	Ivy Adelaide Florence Dougan
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Nelson Jones Jr	Ivy Adelaide Florence Dougan
	💍 1910/1220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer	Domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Halifax Street Nelson	St. John Street Nelson
Length of Residence	28 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	10/1227
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Mackenzie 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 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).