Intentions to Marry, 1897 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840411, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

1897 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 273

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1897 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

12 January 1897

Michael Lynch
Cecilia Anderson

Michael Lynch
Cecilia Anderson
💍 1897/1063

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic Servant

29
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
7 days

The Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth

97/1922

12 January 1897

The Revd. L. B. Serjeant

No	1
Date of Notice	12 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Lynch	Cecilia Anderson
	💍 1897/1063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic Servant
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	7 days
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth
Folio	97/1922
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1897
Officiating Minister	The Revd. L. B. Serjeant

13 January 1897

James White
Elizabeth Bourke

James White
Elizabeth Bourke
💍 1897/4387

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

40
25

Greymouth
Cobden

27 years
25 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

97/657

13 January 1897

The Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

No	2
Date of Notice	13 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James White	Elizabeth Bourke
	💍 1897/4387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Cobden
Length of Residence	27 years	25 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	97/657
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1897
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

30 January 1897

Humphrey Oliver
Christina Maud Forrest

Humphrey Oliver
Christina Maud Forrest
💍 1897/4371

Widower
Spinster

Draper

36
24

Greymouth
Greymouth

8 months
24 years

At the private Residence of Mr. Frederick Austin, Jamieson Street, Greymouth

97/658

30 January 1897

The Revd. C. W. Spence

No	3
Date of Notice	30 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Humphrey Oliver	Christina Maud Forrest
	💍 1897/4371
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	8 months	24 years
Marriage Place	At the private Residence of Mr. Frederick Austin, Jamieson Street, Greymouth
Folio	97/658
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1897
Officiating Minister	The Revd. C. W. Spence

1 February 1897

James Smith
Mary Elizabeth Braddon

James Smith
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
💍 1897/1071

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

31
25

Port Chalmers
Greymouth

5 days
5 years

The private Residence of Mr. George Capes, Leonard Street, Greymouth

97/1923

1 February 1897

The Revd. W. P. Carew

No	4
Date of Notice	1 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith	Mary Elizabeth Braddon
	💍 1897/1071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 days	5 years
Marriage Place	The private Residence of Mr. George Capes, Leonard Street, Greymouth
Folio	97/1923
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1897
Officiating Minister	The Revd. W. P. Carew

6 March 1897

Edmund Alexander Wickes
Henrietta Sage

Edmund Alexander Wickes
Henrietta Gage
💍 1897/4372

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission Agent

28
22

Greymouth
Kumara

28 years
6 months

The private Residence of Mr. Simeon Sage, Seddon Street, Kumara

97/659

6 March 1897

The Revd. Edwin Whitehouse, Kumara

No	5
Date of Notice	6 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Alexander Wickes	Henrietta Sage
BDM Match (96%)	Edmund Alexander Wickes	Henrietta Gage
	💍 1897/4372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Kumara
Length of Residence	28 years	6 months
Marriage Place	The private Residence of Mr. Simeon Sage, Seddon Street, Kumara
Folio	97/659
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1897
Officiating Minister	The Revd. Edwin Whitehouse, Kumara

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 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).