Intentions to Marry, 1888

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840400, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 1371

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 December 1888 Registrar W.A. Barlow

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 October 1888

Thomas Bunding
Sarah Johnston

Thomas Hodson
Mary Johnston
💍 1888/2244

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

26
20

Brunnerton
Brunnerton

2 years
9 months

At office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

88/3165

23 October 1888

W.A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

No	45
Date of Notice	23 October 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bunding	Sarah Johnston
BDM Match (68%)	Thomas Hodson	Mary Johnston
	💍 1888/2244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton	Brunnerton
Length of Residence	2 years	9 months
Marriage Place	At office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	88/3165
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1888
Officiating Minister	W.A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

26 October 1888

John McDavitt
Martha Malone

John McDavitt
Martha Malone
💍 1888/1666

Bachelor
Spinster

Articles Law Clerk
None

30
23

Greymouth
Notown

21 years
11 days

Roman Catholic Chapel, Notown

88/3617

26 October 1888

Daniel O'Callahan, Roman Catholic Minister

No	46
Date of Notice	26 October 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McDavitt	Martha Malone
	💍 1888/1666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Articles Law Clerk	None
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Notown
Length of Residence	21 years	11 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Notown
Folio	88/3617
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1888
Officiating Minister	Daniel O'Callahan, Roman Catholic Minister

31 October 1888

Terrance Kiely
Johannah Shanahan

Terence Kiely
Johanna Shannahan
💍 1888/3632

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
None

33
20

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Greymouth

88/3602

John Shanahan, father of the said Johannah Shanahan

31 October 1888

The Rev. Dean Carew, Roman Catholic Minister

No	47
Date of Notice	31 October 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Terrance Kiely	Johannah Shanahan
BDM Match (87%)	Terence Kiely	Johanna Shannahan
	💍 1888/3632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	None
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Greymouth
Folio	88/3602
Consent	John Shanahan, father of the said Johannah Shanahan
Date of Certificate	31 October 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Dean Carew, Roman Catholic Minister

7 November 1888

Edward Thomas Lodge
Mary Harrington

Edward Thomas Lodge
Mary Harrington
💍 1888/3625

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer
Domestic Servant

22
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

22 years
3 years

At office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

88/3620

7 November 1888

W.A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

No	48
Date of Notice	7 November 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Lodge	Mary Harrington
	💍 1888/3625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer	Domestic Servant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	88/3620
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1888
Officiating Minister	W.A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

7 November 1888

Charles Edward Curtis
Anne Newth

Charles Edward Curtis
Annie Julia Newth
💍 1888/3036

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

27
20

Brunnerton
Cobden

3 years
3 months

Church of England, Greymouth

88/3153

7 November 1888

The Rev. J.D. Maclean, Church of England Minister

No	49
Date of Notice	7 November 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Curtis	Anne Newth
BDM Match (79%)	Charles Edward Curtis	Annie Julia Newth
	💍 1888/3036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton	Cobden
Length of Residence	3 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	88/3153
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J.D. Maclean, Church of England Minister

15 November 1888

George Williams
Margaret Harden

George Williams
Margaret Harden
💍 1888/3037

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

47
45

Dunganville
Dunganville

6 years
6 years

Church of England, Greymouth

88/3154

15 November 1888

The Rev. J.D. Maclean, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	15 November 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Williams	Margaret Harden
	💍 1888/3037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	47	45
Dwelling Place	Dunganville	Dunganville
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	88/3154
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J.D. Maclean, Church of England

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).