Intentions to Marry, 1880

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840392, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 558

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 1880 Registrar Tom Kenrick

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

13 July 1880

Stewart Montieth
Elizabeth Mahoney

Stewart Moubeith
Elizabeth Mahoney
💍 1880/2380

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer
none

38 yrs
25 yrs

Greymouth
Greymouth

5 days
2 weeks

Gilmers Hotel, Mawhera Quay, Greymouth

80/1952

13 July 1880

W H Root Presbyterian Minister Greymouth Greymouth

No	30
Date of Notice	13 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Montieth	Elizabeth Mahoney
BDM Match (88%)	Stewart Moubeith	Elizabeth Mahoney
	💍 1880/2380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer	none
Age	38 yrs	25 yrs
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Gilmers Hotel, Mawhera Quay, Greymouth
Folio	80/1952
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1880
Officiating Minister	W H Root Presbyterian Minister Greymouth Greymouth

23 July 1880

Burnet Murray Litchfield
Elizabeth Margretta Coates

Burnet Murray Litchfield
Elizabeth Margretta Coates
💍 1880/2383

Bachelor
Spinster

Banker
none

30 years
25 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

16 month
15 years

Trinity Church, Hospital Street, Greymouth

80/1955

23 July 1880

John P Kempthorne Incumbent of Trinity Church Greymouth

No	31
Date of Notice	23 July 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Burnet Murray Litchfield	Elizabeth Margretta Coates
	💍 1880/2383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Banker	none
Age	30 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	16 month	15 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Hospital Street, Greymouth
Folio	80/1955
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1880
Officiating Minister	John P Kempthorne Incumbent of Trinity Church Greymouth

2 August 1880

Hans Andreas Anderson
Agnes Catherine Grove
M.N. Swingland

Hans Andreas Andersen
Agnes Catherine Grove
💍 1880/2381

Widower
Widow

Carrier
none

39 years
36 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

12 years
14 month

private dwelling House of H A Anderson, Herbert St., Greymouth

80/1953

2 August 1880

W H Root Presbyterian minister Greymouth

No	32
Date of Notice	2 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hans Andreas Anderson	Agnes Catherine Grove M.N. Swingland
BDM Match (98%)	Hans Andreas Andersen	Agnes Catherine Grove
	💍 1880/2381
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carrier	none
Age	39 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	12 years	14 month
Marriage Place	private dwelling House of H A Anderson, Herbert St., Greymouth
Folio	80/1953
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1880
Officiating Minister	W H Root Presbyterian minister Greymouth

2 August 1880

George Ross
Sarah Firth

George Ross
Sarah Firth
💍 1880/2384

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
none

32 years
23 year

Greymouth
Cobden

14 years
15 year

Trinity Church, Hospital St., Greymouth

80/1956

2 August 1880

John P Kempthorne Incumbent of Trinity Church Greymouth

No	33
Date of Notice	2 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ross	Sarah Firth
	💍 1880/2384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	none
Age	32 years	23 year
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Cobden
Length of Residence	14 years	15 year
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Hospital St., Greymouth
Folio	80/1956
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1880
Officiating Minister	John P Kempthorne Incumbent of Trinity Church Greymouth

3 August 1880

Henry Debenham
Mary Anne Butler

Henry Debenham
Mary Anne Butler
💍 1880/2373

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
none

38 years
29 years

17 Mile Beach Cobden
Greymouth

4 month
4 months

Registrar's Office, Hospital Street, Greymouth

80/1951

3 August 1880

Tom Kenrick Registrar Greymouth

No	34
Date of Notice	3 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Debenham	Mary Anne Butler
	💍 1880/2373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	none
Age	38 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	17 Mile Beach Cobden	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 month	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hospital Street, Greymouth
Folio	80/1951
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Tom Kenrick Registrar Greymouth

9 August 1880

Patrick Warren
Elizabeth McIntyre

Patrick Warren
Elizabeth McIntyre
💍 1880/2385

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
none

40 years
24 years

17 Mile Beach Cobden
Greymouth

13 years
3 years

private dwelling House of M. Noble, Bright Street, Cobden

80/1957

9 August 1880

John P Kempthorne Incumbent of Trinity Church Greymouth

No	35
Date of Notice	9 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Warren	Elizabeth McIntyre
	💍 1880/2385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	none
Age	40 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	17 Mile Beach Cobden	Greymouth
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	private dwelling House of M. Noble, Bright Street, Cobden
Folio	80/1957
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1880
Officiating Minister	John P Kempthorne Incumbent of Trinity Church Greymouth

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).