Intentions to Marry, 1897 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840412, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

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

Page 279

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 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

8 July 1897

Thomas Hoya
Laura Margaret Montagu

Thomas Noye
Laura Margaret Montague
💍 1897/1970

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer

39
29

Camerons near Greymouth
Jeremakan near Greymouth

3 years
2 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Greymouth

97/3180

8 July 1897

Benjamin Harper Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	8 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hoya	Laura Margaret Montagu
BDM Match (89%)	Thomas Noye	Laura Margaret Montague
	💍 1897/1970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Camerons near Greymouth	Jeremakan near Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Greymouth
Folio	97/3180
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper Registrar

8 July 1897

John Robinson
Agnes Perks

John Robinson
Agnes Perks
💍 1897/1971

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

45
34

Greymouth
Greymouth

10 years
5 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages

97/3181

19 July 1897

Benjamin Harper Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	8 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robinson	Agnes Perks
	💍 1897/1971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	97/3181
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper Registrar

19 July 1897

William Evans Thomas
Josephine Eva Kilgour

William Evans Thomas
Josephine Eva Kilgour
💍 1897/4

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

28
27

Greymouth
Greymouth

28 years
27 years

The Church of England Greymouth

97/3183

19 July 1897

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	22
Date of Notice	19 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Evans Thomas	Josephine Eva Kilgour
	💍 1897/4
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	28 years	27 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England Greymouth
Folio	97/3183
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

23 July 1897

Thomas Mallett
Clara Elizabeth Blummont (maiden name Ashby)

Thomas Mallett
Clara Elizabeth Blummont
💍 1897/1980

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer

42
36

Westport
Westport

3 days
3 days

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Greymouth

97/3182

25 July 1897

Benjamin Harper Registrar

No	23
Date of Notice	23 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mallett	Clara Elizabeth Blummont (maiden name Ashby)
BDM Match (77%)	Thomas Mallett	Clara Elizabeth Blummont
	💍 1897/1980
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	42	36
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Greymouth
Folio	97/3182
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper Registrar

28 July 1897

Henry James Hudd
Mary Ann Quinn

Harry James Hudd
Mary Anne Quinn
💍 1897/1991

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Dressmaker

29
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

7 years
20 years

The Roman Catholic Church Greymouth

97/3184

28 July 1897

Rev. D. P. Caron

No	24
Date of Notice	28 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Hudd	Mary Ann Quinn
BDM Match (90%)	Harry James Hudd	Mary Anne Quinn
	💍 1897/1991
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Dressmaker
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church Greymouth
Folio	97/3184
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. P. Caron

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).