Intentions to Marry, 1875

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840387, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

This register is quite fragile and some of the pages are damaged or even missing.

Page 480

District of Grey Quarter ending 31 December 1875

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

20 November 1875

James Alexander Phair
Mary Phair

James Alexander Phairs
Mary Phair
💍 1875/2547

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

37 years
28 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 Days
3 Days

Wharf Hotel, Greymouth

75/2734

20 November 1875

Rev. G. Th.Watkins C of E

No	39
Date of Notice	20 November 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Phair	Mary Phair
BDM Match (98%)	James Alexander Phairs	Mary Phair
	💍 1875/2547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	37 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Wharf Hotel, Greymouth
Folio	75/2734
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Th.Watkins C of E

29 November 1875

John Lucas
Julia Macdonald

John Lucas
Julia McDonald
💍 1875/2456

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Barmaid

33 years
22 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 Days
3 Days

Union Hotel, Greymouth

75/2645

29 November 1875

Rev. D. McNicoll Wes

No	40
Date of Notice	29 November 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lucas	Julia Macdonald
BDM Match (93%)	John Lucas	Julia McDonald
	💍 1875/2456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Barmaid
Age	33 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Union Hotel, Greymouth
Folio	75/2645
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. McNicoll Wes

30 November 1875

Arthur Pyne O'Callaghan
Florence Hindmarsh

Arthur Pyne O'Callaghan
Florence Hindmarsh
💍 1875/2549

Widower
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders
none

38 years
19 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 Days
8 years

Church of England, Greymouth

75/2736

William Henry Scott Hindmarsh Father

30 November 1875

Rev. G. Th. Watkins C of E

No	41
Date of Notice	30 November 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Pyne O'Callaghan	Florence Hindmarsh
	💍 1875/2549
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders	none
Age	38 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 Days	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	75/2736
Consent	William Henry Scott Hindmarsh Father
Date of Certificate	30 November 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Th. Watkins C of E

7 December 1875

James Robertson
Elizabeth Mary Hamilton Long

James Robertson
Elizabeth Mary Hamilton Long
💍 1875/2550

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
none

33 years
20 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 Days
3 months

Private House of Edward Long, Masters Street, Greymouth

75/2738

Mary Long, Mother

7 December 1875

Rev. G. Th. Watkins C of E

No	42
Date of Notice	7 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robertson	Elizabeth Mary Hamilton Long
	💍 1875/2550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	none
Age	33 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 months
Marriage Place	Private House of Edward Long, Masters Street, Greymouth
Folio	75/2738
Consent	Mary Long, Mother
Date of Certificate	7 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Th. Watkins C of E

7 December 1875

Thomas Adolphus Davis Brooks
Mary O'Connor

Thomas Adolphus Davis Brooks
Mary O'Connor
💍 1875/3133

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Servant

39 years
29 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 Days
5 Days

Church of England Parsonage, Greymouth

75/2737

7 December 1875

Rev. G. Th. Watkins C of E

No	43
Date of Notice	7 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Adolphus Davis Brooks	Mary O'Connor
	💍 1875/3133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Servant
Age	39 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 Days	5 Days
Marriage Place	Church of England Parsonage, Greymouth
Folio	75/2737
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Th. Watkins C of E

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).