Intentions to Marry, 1896 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840410, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025

1896 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 767

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 December 1896 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

6 October 1896

William Bron
Norah London

William Crow
Norah Condon
💍 1896/3379

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

26
20

Haast, Westland
Gillespie Beach, Westland

5 days in Greymouth
5 days in Greymouth

The Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth

96/4456

Thomas London

6 October 1896

Rev. Father W. Hoyland

No	24
Date of Notice	6 October 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bron	Norah London
BDM Match (88%)	William Crow	Norah Condon
	💍 1896/3379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Haast, Westland	Gillespie Beach, Westland
Length of Residence	5 days in Greymouth	5 days in Greymouth
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth
Folio	96/4456
Consent	Thomas London
Date of Certificate	6 October 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father W. Hoyland

8 October 1896

Ernest Middleton Holmes
Eleanor Frances Orams

Ernest Middleton Holmes
Eleanor Frances Orans
💍 1896/161

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

24
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

5 years
7 years

The Church of England, Greymouth

96/4449

8 October 1896

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	25
Date of Notice	8 October 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Middleton Holmes	Eleanor Frances Orams
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Middleton Holmes	Eleanor Frances Orans
	💍 1896/161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	96/4449
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

19 October 1896

Gustave Henry Blank
Margaret Lansten

Gustave Henry Blank
Margaret Lausten
💍 1896/162

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw Miller

23
21

Moana
Red Jacks

5 days in Greymouth
5 days in Greymouth

The Church of England at Greymouth

96/4450

19 October 1896

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	26
Date of Notice	19 October 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustave Henry Blank	Margaret Lansten
BDM Match (97%)	Gustave Henry Blank	Margaret Lausten
	💍 1896/162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw Miller
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Moana	Red Jacks
Length of Residence	5 days in Greymouth	5 days in Greymouth
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Greymouth
Folio	96/4450
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

5 November 1896

John Corkrey Wingrove
Elizabeth Lewis

John Corkrey Wingrove
Elizabeth Lewis
💍 1896/4551

Widower
Spinster

Laborer
Laundress

43
32

Greymouth
Greymouth

14 years
12 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

96/4452

5 November 1896

Benjamin Harper, Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	5 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Corkrey Wingrove	Elizabeth Lewis
	💍 1896/4551
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Laundress
Age	43	32
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	14 years	12 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth
Folio	96/4452
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper, Registrar

21 November 1896

Henry Thomas Olsen
Nelly Appleton

Henry Thomas Olsen
Nelly Appleton
💍 1896/4553

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Guard

26
23

Kaiata
Kaiata

11 years
1 week at Kaiata near Greymouth

The private Residence of Thomas Olsen

96/4453

21 November 1896

Rev. Robert Stewart

No	28
Date of Notice	21 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Olsen	Nelly Appleton
	💍 1896/4553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Kaiata	Kaiata
Length of Residence	11 years	1 week at Kaiata near Greymouth
Marriage Place	The private Residence of Thomas Olsen
Folio	96/4453
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Stewart

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 1908. 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).