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 215

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar W. A. 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

1 January 1888

Ernest James Smith
Isimia Jane Taylor

Ernest James Smith
Isimia Jane Taylor
💍 1888/599

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Milliner

23 years
23 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
10 years

Church of England, Greymouth

88/441

4 January 1888

The Rev. I. B. Maclean Church of England minister

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest James Smith	Isimia Jane Taylor
	💍 1888/599
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Milliner
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	88/441
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. I. B. Maclean Church of England minister

1 January 1888

Robert Marshall Mackerill
Sarah McLaren

Robert Marshall Mackerill
Sarah McLaren
💍 1888/581

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Dressmaker

54 years
51 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
4 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

88/447

4 January 1888

W. A. Barton Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	1 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Marshall Mackerill	Sarah McLaren
	💍 1888/581
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	54 years	51 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	88/447
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1888
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton Registrar

16 January 1888

Frank Martin
Elizabeth Bridget Blane

Frank Martin
Elizabeth Bridget Blane
💍 1888/109

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
None

22 years
17 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

16 months
6 months

At the residence of Norah Blane, Hospital Street, Greymouth

88/575

Norah Blane, mother

16 January 1888

The Rev. E. Vertuis Roman Catholic minister

No	3
Date of Notice	16 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Martin	Elizabeth Bridget Blane
	💍 1888/109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	None
Age	22 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	16 months	6 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Norah Blane, Hospital Street, Greymouth
Folio	88/575
Consent	Norah Blane, mother
Date of Certificate	16 January 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. E. Vertuis Roman Catholic minister

23 January 1888

William Ayers
Rosetta Farrell

William Ayers
Rosetta Farrell
💍 1888/600

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
None

22 years
21 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

12 months
7 days

Church of England, Greymouth

88/442

23 January 1888

The Rev. I. B. Maclean Church of England minister

No	4
Date of Notice	23 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ayers	Rosetta Farrell
	💍 1888/600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	None
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	12 months	7 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	88/442
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. I. B. Maclean Church of England minister

25 January 1888

James Keith
Rose Lena Sylvester

James Keith
Roselena Sylvester
💍 1888/602

Widower
Spinster

Miner
None

46 years
19 years

Paroa
Paroa

16 years
12 months

Church of England, Greymouth

88/444

No person in Colony having authority to give Consent

11 February 1888

The Rev. I. B. Maclean Church of England minister

No	5
Date of Notice	25 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Keith	Rose Lena Sylvester
BDM Match (95%)	James Keith	Roselena Sylvester
	💍 1888/602
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	46 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Paroa	Paroa
Length of Residence	16 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	88/444
Consent	No person in Colony having authority to give Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. I. B. Maclean Church of England minister

1 February 1888

Charles Dobson
Margaret Phoebe Mann

Charles Dobson
Margaret Phoebe Mann
💍 1888/601

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
None

37 years
34 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

14 days
4 days

Church of England, Greymouth

88/443

1 February 1888

The Rev. I. B. Maclean Church of England minister

No	6
Date of Notice	1 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Dobson	Margaret Phoebe Mann
	💍 1888/601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	None
Age	37 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	14 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	88/443
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. I. B. Maclean Church of England minister

17 February 1888

Thomas Elliott
Elizabeth Beattie

Thomas Elliott
Elizabeth Beattie
💍 1888/582

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
None

24 years
21 years

Brunnerton
Brunnerton

8 years
3 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

88/448

17 February 1888

W. A. Barton Registrar of Marriages

No	7
Date of Notice	17 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Elliott	Elizabeth Beattie
	💍 1888/582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	None
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton	Brunnerton
Length of Residence	8 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	88/448
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1888
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton Registrar of Marriages

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).