Intentions to Marry, 1894

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840406, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 6 2025

Page 670

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 June 1894 Registrar Benjamin Harper

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

25 April 1894

William James Gulliver
Eleanor Griffiths Evans
formerly White

William James Gulliver
Eleanor Griffiths Evans
💍 1894/1556

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter

50 years
45 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

15 years
15 years

At Office of Registrar

94/1588

25 April 1894

Benjamin Harper, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	25 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Gulliver	Eleanor Griffiths Evans formerly White
	💍 1894/1556
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	50 years	45 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	At Office of Registrar
Folio	94/1588
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper, Registrar

5 May 1894

Franker Barker Dobson
Charlotte Jane Easson

Frank Barker Dobson
Charlotte Jane Easson
💍 1894/1561

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders

35 years
20 years

Westport (now of Greymouth)
Greymouth

5 days
10 years

Holy Trinity Church

94/1592

5 May 1894

Rev. Geo W. York

No	9
Date of Notice	5 May 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franker Barker Dobson	Charlotte Jane Easson
BDM Match (95%)	Frank Barker Dobson	Charlotte Jane Easson
	💍 1894/1561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders
Age	35 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Westport (now of Greymouth)	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	94/1592
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo W. York

8 May 1894

Thomas Brown
Margaret Blair

Thomas Brown
Margaret Blair
💍 1894/1560

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer Assistant
Dress Maker

25 years
26 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

25 years
7 years

At private residence of William Blair, father of Bride, Greymouth

94/1591

8 May 1894

Rev. Robert Stewart

No	10
Date of Notice	8 May 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Brown	Margaret Blair
	💍 1894/1560
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer Assistant	Dress Maker
Age	25 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	25 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At private residence of William Blair, father of Bride, Greymouth
Folio	94/1591
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Stewart

10a

21 May 1894

Henry Harper
Mary Ellen Cooksey

Henry Harper
Mary Ellen Cooksey
💍 1894/2866

Widower
Spinster

Sawmiller
Servant

36 years
21 years

Ahaura (now of Greymouth)
Greymouth

3 days
3 months

Private House, Greymouth, of Mrs. Quinn

94/3052

21 May 1894

Rev. Father Servajean

No	10a
Date of Notice	21 May 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Harper	Mary Ellen Cooksey
	💍 1894/2866
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Servant
Age	36 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Ahaura (now of Greymouth)	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Private House, Greymouth, of Mrs. Quinn
Folio	94/3052
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Servajean

22 May 1894

William Bailey
Mary Ann Godfrey

William Bailey
Mary Ann Godfrey
💍 1894/4048

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

35 years
23 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
23 years

At the House of James Godfrey, Convent Street, Greymouth

94/1593

22 May 1894

Rev. Thomas Johnston

No	11
Date of Notice	22 May 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bailey	Mary Ann Godfrey
	💍 1894/4048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	35 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	At the House of James Godfrey, Convent Street, Greymouth
Folio	94/1593
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Johnston

31 May 1894

Charles Louis Hartshorn
Annie Warner

Charles Louis Hertslet
Annie Warner
💍 1894/1562

Bachelor
Widow

Civil Servant
Music Teacher

40 years
33 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

14 years
10 years

In the Church of England

94/1594

31 May 1894

Rev. Geo W. York

No	12
Date of Notice	31 May 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Louis Hartshorn	Annie Warner
BDM Match (89%)	Charles Louis Hertslet	Annie Warner
	💍 1894/1562
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Civil Servant	Music Teacher
Age	40 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	14 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England
Folio	94/1594
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo W. York

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).