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 761

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 June 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

5 April 1897

Archibald Brown
Mary Margaret Brown

Archibald Brown
Mary Margaret Brown
💍 1907/5

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

25
24

Maori Creek
Greymouth

10 years
7 years

The private residence of Mr. George Bufton, Tainui Street, Greymouth

97/1907

5 April 1897

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	11
Date of Notice	5 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Brown	Mary Margaret Brown
	💍 1907/5
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Maori Creek	Greymouth
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mr. George Bufton, Tainui Street, Greymouth
Folio	97/1907
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

12 April 1897

John Smythe (known as John Rowe)
Mary Ann Stratford

John Rowe
Mary Ann Stratford
💍 1897/3618

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

31
19

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
10 years

The private residence of Mr. Richd. Tainui Street, Greymouth

97/1901

Richard Stratford, father

12 April 1897

Rev. Robert Stewart

No	12
Date of Notice	12 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smythe (known as John Rowe)	Mary Ann Stratford
BDM Match (64%)	John Rowe	Mary Ann Stratford
	💍 1897/3618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mr. Richd. Tainui Street, Greymouth
Folio	97/1901
Consent	Richard Stratford, father
Date of Certificate	12 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Stewart

16 April 1897

Charles Shearer Black
Elizabeth Grace Smith

Charles Shearer Black
Elizabeth Grace Smith
💍 1897/1

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

20
18

Ross
Greymouth

3 days
6 months

The private residence of Mr. A. Campbell, Preston Road, Greymouth

97/1908

Hugh Black, father; No person resident within the colony to give consent.

8 May 1897

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	13
Date of Notice	16 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Shearer Black	Elizabeth Grace Smith
	💍 1897/1
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Ross	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mr. A. Campbell, Preston Road, Greymouth
Folio	97/1908
Consent	Hugh Black, father; No person resident within the colony to give consent.
Date of Certificate	8 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

3 May 1897

Henry Francis Moore
Annie Beaman (Maiden name Sutherland)

Henry Francis Moore
Annie Beaman
💍 1897/1067

Bachelor
Widow

Miner

25
25

Brunnerton
Brunnerton

3 days
3 days

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

97/1902

3 May 1897

Benjamin Harper, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	3 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Francis Moore	Annie Beaman (Maiden name Sutherland)
BDM Match (66%)	Henry Francis Moore	Annie Beaman
	💍 1897/1067
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton	Brunnerton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	97/1902
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper, Registrar

20 May 1897

Frank McDowell
Jane Boon Mason

Frank McDowell
Jane Boon Mason
💍 1897/2

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

21
19

Greymouth
Greymouth

5 years
7 years

The private residence of John Gibson, Masby Tainui Street, Greymouth

97/1909

John Gibson, father

20 May 1897

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	15
Date of Notice	20 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank McDowell	Jane Boon Mason
	💍 1897/2
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of John Gibson, Masby Tainui Street, Greymouth
Folio	97/1909
Consent	John Gibson, father
Date of Certificate	20 May 1897
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).