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 561

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 December 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

16 December 1880

Patrick Currin
Abby Reen

Patrick Currin
Abby Reen
💍 1880/166

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

32
38

Brunnerton
Greymouth

12 months
5 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Arney Street, Greymouth

80/2588

16 December 1880

Rev. Father Ecuyer, Catholic Priest, Greymouth

No	42
Date of Notice	16 December 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Currin	Abby Reen
	💍 1880/166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	32	38
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton	Greymouth
Length of Residence	12 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Arney Street, Greymouth
Folio	80/2588
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Ecuyer, Catholic Priest, Greymouth

23 December 1880

Thomas John Rosser
Eliza Emma Brown

Thomas John Rosser
Eliza Emma Brown
💍 1880/87

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
None

26
16

Brunnerton
Brunnerton

13 months
15 years

Private dwelling house of W H Root, Tainui St., Greymouth

80/2579

Matilda M Brown, mother of Eliza Emma Brown

3 December 1880

Rev. W. H. Root, Presbyterian Minister, Greymouth

No	43
Date of Notice	23 December 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Rosser	Eliza Emma Brown
	💍 1880/87
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	None
Age	26	16
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton	Brunnerton
Length of Residence	13 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Private dwelling house of W H Root, Tainui St., Greymouth
Folio	80/2579
Consent	Matilda M Brown, mother of Eliza Emma Brown
Date of Certificate	3 December 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Root, Presbyterian Minister, Greymouth

27 December 1880

John James Kennedy
Lily Hill

John James Kennedy
Lily Hill
💍 1880/163

Bachelor
Spinster

Comedian
Actress

24
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

14 days
14 days

Trinity Church, Hospital Street, Greymouth

80/2585

27 December 1880

Rev. John P. Kempthorne, Trinity Church, Greymouth

No	44
Date of Notice	27 December 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Kennedy	Lily Hill
	💍 1880/163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Comedian	Actress
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Hospital Street, Greymouth
Folio	80/2585
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. John P. Kempthorne, Trinity Church, Greymouth

29 December 1880

Hugh O'Donnell
Mary O'Sullivan

Hugh O'Donnell
Mary O'Sullivan
💍 1880/167

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
None

22
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

5 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Arney Street, Greymouth

80/2589

29 December 1880

Rev. Father Ecuyer, Catholic Priest, Greymouth

No	45
Date of Notice	29 December 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh O'Donnell	Mary O'Sullivan
	💍 1880/167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	None
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Arney Street, Greymouth
Folio	80/2589
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Ecuyer, Catholic Priest, Greymouth

30 December 1880

James Scarlett
Frances Pethybridge

James Scarlett
Frances Pethybridge
💍 1881/408

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

35
21

Maori Creek
Greymouth

9 years
10 years

Trinity Church, Hospital Street, Greymouth

81/344

30 December 1880

Rev. J. P. Kempthorne, Trinity Church, Greymouth

No	46
Date of Notice	30 December 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Scarlett	Frances Pethybridge
	💍 1881/408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Maori Creek	Greymouth
Length of Residence	9 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Hospital Street, Greymouth
Folio	81/344
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Kempthorne, 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).