Intentions to Marry, 1882

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840394, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 620

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1881 Registrar William Alfred Barton

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

08 February 1882

Peter Pasenti
Mary Eleanor Clements

Peter Pesinti
Mary Eleanor Clements
💍 1882/359

Bachelor
Widow

Gold miner
None

40
40

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 Days
3 Days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

82/450

08 February 1882

W. A. Barton Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	08 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Pasenti	Mary Eleanor Clements
BDM Match (92%)	Peter Pesinti	Mary Eleanor Clements
	💍 1882/359
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Gold miner	None
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	82/450
Consent
Date of Certificate	08 February 1882
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton Registrar

10 February 1882

Michael Noonan
Ellen McGannon

Michael Noonan
Ellen McGannon
💍 1882/352

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Servant

36
34

Greymouth
Greymouth

5 Days
10 Days

Roman Catholic Church, Wallsend

82/453

10 February 1882

Patrick Roland, R C

No	2
Date of Notice	10 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Noonan	Ellen McGannon
	💍 1882/352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Servant
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 Days	10 Days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Wallsend
Folio	82/453
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Patrick Roland, R C

23 February 1882

William Knox
Mary Campbell

William Knox
Mary Campbell
💍 1882/356

Widower
Spinster

Railway Station master
None

44
35

Wallsend
Wallsend

22 months
22 months

At the Residence of the said William Knox, Wallsend

82/447

23 February 1882

Charles Standage, Wes

No	3
Date of Notice	23 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Knox	Mary Campbell
	💍 1882/356
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Station master	None
Age	44	35
Dwelling Place	Wallsend	Wallsend
Length of Residence	22 months	22 months
Marriage Place	At the Residence of the said William Knox, Wallsend
Folio	82/447
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Charles Standage, Wes

28 February 1882

John Alfred Boyeson
Emma Woods Hare

John Alfred Bergison
Emma Woods Ware
💍 1882/357

Bachelor
Spinster

Gold miner
None

38
33

Greymouth
Greymouth

10 days
5 years

At the residence of William Norris, Alexander Street, Greymouth

82/448

28 February 1882

Charles Standage, Wes

No	4
Date of Notice	28 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Boyeson	Emma Woods Hare
BDM Match (87%)	John Alfred Bergison	Emma Woods Ware
	💍 1882/357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gold miner	None
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	10 days	5 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of William Norris, Alexander Street, Greymouth
Folio	82/448
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Charles Standage, Wes

28 February 1882

William Mills Martin
Caroline Pritchard Ronson

William Mali Martin
Caroline Pritchard Ronson
💍 1882/358

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
None

30
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

2 years
14 years

At the Residence of Bride's father, Hospital Street, Greymouth

82/449

28 February 1882

John P. Kempthorne, C of E

No	5
Date of Notice	28 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mills Martin	Caroline Pritchard Ronson
BDM Match (93%)	William Mali Martin	Caroline Pritchard Ronson
	💍 1882/358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	None
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Bride's father, Hospital Street, Greymouth
Folio	82/449
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1882
Officiating Minister	John P. Kempthorne, C of E

14 March 1882

David Hugh
Mary Ann Kent

David Hugh
Mary Ann Kent
💍 1882/351

Bachelor
Spinster

Gold miner
None

27
19

Maori Creek
Nelson Creek

22 months
12 years

At the Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

82/452

Francis Kent, father of the said Mary Ann Kent.

14 March 1882

W. A. Barton Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	14 March 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hugh	Mary Ann Kent
	💍 1882/351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gold miner	None
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Maori Creek	Nelson Creek
Length of Residence	22 months	12 years
Marriage Place	At the Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	82/452
Consent	Francis Kent, father of the said Mary Ann Kent.
Date of Certificate	14 March 1882
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton Registrar

20 March 1882

Henry Palmer
Catherine Mary Hargreaves

Henry Palmer
Catherine Mary Hargreaves
💍 1882/360

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer
None

47
33

Greymouth
Greymouth

15 years
4 years

Greymouth

82/451

20 March 1882

W. A. Barton Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	20 March 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Palmer	Catherine Mary Hargreaves
	💍 1882/360
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer	None
Age	47	33
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Greymouth
Folio	82/451
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1882
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton Registrar

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).

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).