Intentions to Marry, 1887

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840399, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 958

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 1887 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

23 August 1887

David Cochrane
Emma Harrison

David Cochrane
Emma Harrison
💍 1887/545

Widower
Spinster

Clerk
None

35 years
22 years

Greymouth
Nelson Creek

3 years
7 years

At the residence of Bartholomew Harrison, Nelson Creek

87/2174

29 August 1887

The Rev. G. W. York, Church of England minister

No	23
Date of Notice	23 August 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Cochrane	Emma Harrison
	💍 1887/545
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	None
Age	35 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Nelson Creek
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Bartholomew Harrison, Nelson Creek
Folio	87/2174
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1887
Officiating Minister	The Rev. G. W. York, Church of England minister

24 August 1887

Thomas Beeman
Anne Sutherland

Thomas Beenan
Annie Sutherland
💍 1887/527

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal miner
Domestic Servant

25 years
19 years

Taylorville
Taylorville

2 years
3 months

At office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

87/2180

Declaration made that person resident in Colony having authority to issue

5 September 1887

W. A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

No	24
Date of Notice	24 August 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Beeman	Anne Sutherland
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Beenan	Annie Sutherland
	💍 1887/527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal miner	Domestic Servant
Age	25 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Taylorville	Taylorville
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	At office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	87/2180
Consent	Declaration made that person resident in Colony having authority to issue
Date of Certificate	5 September 1887
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

25 August 1887

Albert Eagleton
Robena Celia Emma Heron

Albert Eagleton
Robenia Celia Emma Heron
💍 1887/525

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Dressmaker

27 years
19 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

5 days
2 months

At the residence of John Heron, Leonard Street, Greymouth

87/2178

John Heron, father of the said Robena Celia Emma Heron

15 September 1887

The Rev. C. Griffen, Wesleyan minister

No	25
Date of Notice	25 August 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Eagleton	Robena Celia Emma Heron
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Eagleton	Robenia Celia Emma Heron
	💍 1887/525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Dressmaker
Age	27 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 days	2 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of John Heron, Leonard Street, Greymouth
Folio	87/2178
Consent	John Heron, father of the said Robena Celia Emma Heron
Date of Certificate	15 September 1887
Officiating Minister	The Rev. C. Griffen, Wesleyan minister

26 August 1887

David Larkin
Ellen Rohan

David Larkin
Ellen Rohan
💍 1887/529

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

31 years
22 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

7 months
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Chapel, Greymouth

87/2182

20 September 1887

The Rev. E. Pertuis, Roman Catholic minister

No	26
Date of Notice	26 August 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Larkin	Ellen Rohan
	💍 1887/529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	31 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	7 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Greymouth
Folio	87/2182
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1887
Officiating Minister	The Rev. E. Pertuis, Roman Catholic minister

27 August 1887

Michael Keating
Elizabeth Healey

Michl Keating
Elizabeth Healy
💍 1887/530

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal miner
None

28 years
24 years

Wallsend
Brunner Town

6 years
4 weeks

Roman Catholic Chapel, Greymouth

87/2183

20 September 1887

The Rev. Denis Carew, Roman Catholic minister

No	27
Date of Notice	27 August 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Keating	Elizabeth Healey
BDM Match (90%)	Michl Keating	Elizabeth Healy
	💍 1887/530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal miner	None
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Wallsend	Brunner Town
Length of Residence	6 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Greymouth
Folio	87/2183
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1887
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Denis Carew, Roman Catholic 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 1903. 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).