Intentions to Marry, 1890

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840402, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 215

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1890 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

5 February 1890

Clarence Henry Townley
Ann Jane Bally

Clarence Henry Townley
Ann Jane Batty
💍 1890/365

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
None

35 years
27 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

2 years
2 years

At Office of Registrar of Marriages Greymouth

90/430

5 February 1890

W. A. Barton Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	5 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Henry Townley	Ann Jane Bally
BDM Match (93%)	Clarence Henry Townley	Ann Jane Batty
	💍 1890/365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	None
Age	35 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	At Office of Registrar of Marriages Greymouth
Folio	90/430
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1890
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton Registrar

7 February 1890

James Henry Heeney
Ellen Moran

James Keeney
Ellen Moran
💍 1890/785

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
None

23 years
22 years

Cobden
Greymouth

3 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Chapel Greymouth

90/418

7 February 1890

The Rev: John B. Briand Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	7 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Heeney	Ellen Moran
BDM Match (81%)	James Keeney	Ellen Moran
	💍 1890/785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	None
Age	23 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel Greymouth
Folio	90/418
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1890
Officiating Minister	The Rev: John B. Briand Roman Catholic

13 February 1890

George Cressey
Sarah McLaughlin Hunter

George Cressey
Sarah McLaughlin Hunter
💍 1890/449

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
None

26 years
19 years

Greymouth
Coal Creek

4 days
11 years

At the residence of Frederick McClean Coal Creek

90/426

Janet McClean mother of said Sarah McLaughlin Hunter

13 February 1890

The Rev: G. W. York Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	13 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cressey	Sarah McLaughlin Hunter
	💍 1890/449
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	None
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Coal Creek
Length of Residence	4 days	11 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Frederick McClean Coal Creek
Folio	90/426
Consent	Janet McClean mother of said Sarah McLaughlin Hunter
Date of Certificate	13 February 1890
Officiating Minister	The Rev: G. W. York Church of England

24 February 1890

James Phillips
Florence Griffiths

James Phillips
Florence Griffiths
💍 1890/366

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
None

26 years
19 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 days
7 years

At Office of Registrar of Marriages Greymouth

90/431

Henry Griffiths father of the said Florence Griffiths

24 February 1890

W. A. Barton Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	24 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Phillips	Florence Griffiths
	💍 1890/366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	None
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	At Office of Registrar of Marriages Greymouth
Folio	90/431
Consent	Henry Griffiths father of the said Florence Griffiths
Date of Certificate	24 February 1890
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton Registrar

25 February 1890

John Williamson
Sarah Little Taylor

John Williamson
Sarah Little Tayler
💍 1890/444

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
None

24 years
24 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 years
20 years

At the residence of Sarah Taylor Preston road Greymouth

90/422

25 February 1890

The Rev: C. Greffen Wesleyan

No	11
Date of Notice	25 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Williamson	Sarah Little Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	John Williamson	Sarah Little Tayler
	💍 1890/444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	None
Age	24 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Sarah Taylor Preston road Greymouth
Folio	90/422
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1890
Officiating Minister	The Rev: C. Greffen Wesleyan

11 March 1890

William George Yardley
Alice Matilda Wilton

William George Yardley
Alice Matilda Wilton
💍 1890/446

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
None

26 years
25 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

5 months
4 months

At the residence of Edward Yardley situate in Leonard St Greymouth

90/423

11 March 1890

The Rev: C. Greffen Wesleyan

No	12
Date of Notice	11 March 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Yardley	Alice Matilda Wilton
	💍 1890/446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	None
Age	26 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 months	4 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Edward Yardley situate in Leonard St Greymouth
Folio	90/423
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1890
Officiating Minister	The Rev: C. Greffen Wesleyan

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).