Intentions to Marry, 1889

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840401, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 984

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 1889 Registrar M. 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

19 August 1889

Thomas Founder
Elizabeth Robinson

Thomas Pounder
Elizabeth Robinson
💍 1889/2224

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
None

37 years
24 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 days
1 month

At the residence of Ellen Robinson situate in High Street Greymouth

89/2236

19 August 1889

The Rev. R. R. Church of Eng

No	33
Date of Notice	19 August 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Founder	Elizabeth Robinson
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Pounder	Elizabeth Robinson
	💍 1889/2224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	None
Age	37 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	At the residence of Ellen Robinson situate in High Street Greymouth
Folio	89/2236
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1889
Officiating Minister	The Rev. R. R. Church of Eng

26 August 1889

Henry Jones
Margaret Gamble

Henry Jones
Margaret Gamble
💍 1889/2225

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
None

23 years
24 years

Brunnerlow
Greymouth

1 month
23 years

Church of England Greymouth

89/2237

26 August 1889

The Rev. R. R. Church of Eng

No	34
Date of Notice	26 August 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Jones	Margaret Gamble
	💍 1889/2225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	None
Age	23 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Brunnerlow	Greymouth
Length of Residence	1 month	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Greymouth
Folio	89/2237
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1889
Officiating Minister	The Rev. R. R. Church of Eng

30 August 1889

George Southern
Elizabeth Ann

George Southern
Elizabeth Ann Pattnison
💍 1889/2199

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

27 years
22 years

Wallsend
Dobson

2 years
1 year

Church of England Wallsend

89/2231

30 August 1889

The Rev. G. P. Church of Eng

No	35
Date of Notice	30 August 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Southern	Elizabeth Ann
BDM Match (78%)	George Southern	Elizabeth Ann Pattnison
	💍 1889/2199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	27 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Wallsend	Dobson
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of England Wallsend
Folio	89/2231
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1889
Officiating Minister	The Rev. G. P. Church of Eng

31 August 1889

Franz Karl Berthold
Ellen Conrick

Franz Karl Berthold
Ellen Cormick
💍 1889/2669

Bachelor
Spinster

Music Teacher
None

34 years
24 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

18 months
3 years

At Roman Catholic Chapel Brunnerlon

89/2651

31 August 1889

The Rev. Dean Roman C

No	36
Date of Notice	31 August 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franz Karl Berthold	Ellen Conrick
BDM Match (92%)	Franz Karl Berthold	Ellen Cormick
	💍 1889/2669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Music Teacher	None
Age	34 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	18 months	3 years
Marriage Place	At Roman Catholic Chapel Brunnerlon
Folio	89/2651
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1889
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Dean Roman C

25 September 1889

William Russ
Sylvia Evelyn Ann Kells

William Russ
Sylvia Evelyn Anne Kells
💍 1889/2207

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

30 years
17 years

Greymouth
Brunnerton

6 days
3 months

At the Church of England Wallsend

89/2232

William Henry Kells father of the said Sylvia Evelyn Ann Kells

25 September 1889

The Rev. G. W. Church of Eng

No	37
Date of Notice	25 September 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Russ	Sylvia Evelyn Ann Kells
BDM Match (98%)	William Russ	Sylvia Evelyn Anne Kells
	💍 1889/2207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	30 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Brunnerton
Length of Residence	6 days	3 months
Marriage Place	At the Church of England Wallsend
Folio	89/2232
Consent	William Henry Kells father of the said Sylvia Evelyn Ann Kells
Date of Certificate	25 September 1889
Officiating Minister	The Rev. G. W. Church of Eng

27 September 1889

George Sherman
Margaret Bainbridge

George Sherman
Margaret Bainbridge
💍 1889/3049

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
None

24 years
20 years

Wallsend
Dobson

2 years
1 year

Church of England Wallsend

89/2234

William Bainbridge father of the said Margaret Bainbridge

27 September 1889

The Rev. R. R. Church of Eng

No	38
Date of Notice	27 September 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Sherman	Margaret Bainbridge
	💍 1889/3049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	None
Age	24 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Wallsend	Dobson
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of England Wallsend
Folio	89/2234
Consent	William Bainbridge father of the said Margaret Bainbridge
Date of Certificate	27 September 1889
Officiating Minister	The Rev. R. R. Church of Eng

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).