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 280

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 1897 Registrar 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 August 1897

Robert Taylor
Susannah Spence Waite

Robert Taylor
Susannah Waite
💍 1897/1996

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Dressmaker

28 years
27 years

Coal Creek near Greymouth
Taylorville

6 weeks
8 years

Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

97/3186

22 August 1897

Rev. Robert Stewart, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	25 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Taylor	Susannah Spence Waite
BDM Match (83%)	Robert Taylor	Susannah Waite
	💍 1897/1996
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Dressmaker
Age	28 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Coal Creek near Greymouth	Taylorville
Length of Residence	6 weeks	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	97/3186
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Stewart, Presbyterian

26 August 1897

William Hamilton Hewlett
Margaret Lalor

William Hewlett
Margaret Lalor
💍 1897/3330

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Dressmaker

23 years
24 years

Nelson Creek near Greymouth
Nelson Creek near Greymouth

12 months
24 years

Private residence of Mr. James Lalor, South Beach near Paroa

97/4897

26 August 1897

Rev. D. P. Carew

No	26
Date of Notice	26 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hamilton Hewlett	Margaret Lalor
BDM Match (81%)	William Hewlett	Margaret Lalor
	💍 1897/3330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Dressmaker
Age	23 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Nelson Creek near Greymouth	Nelson Creek near Greymouth
Length of Residence	12 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. James Lalor, South Beach near Paroa
Folio	97/4897
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. P. Carew

27 September 1897

James Laing
Eva Emily Apted

James Laing
Grace Emily Apted
💍 1897/1997

Widower
Spinster

Storekeeper

58 years
30 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

30 years
25 years

Private residence of Mr. W. F. Apted, Tainui Street, Greymouth

97/3187

9 September 1897

Rev. Robt. Stewart

No	27
Date of Notice	27 September 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Laing	Eva Emily Apted
BDM Match (88%)	James Laing	Grace Emily Apted
	💍 1897/1997
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	58 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	30 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. W. F. Apted, Tainui Street, Greymouth
Folio	97/3187
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. Stewart

28 September 1897

Arthur Edward Kilgour
Susannah Newbegging Hall

Arthur Edward Kilgour
Sussannah Newbegging Hall
💍 1897/1998

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26 years
20 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

26 years
20 years

The shop & residence of Mrs. J. H. Hall, Tainui Street, Greymouth

97/3188

Jeanie Harkness Hall, mother, (the father being dead)

28 September 1897

Rev. Robt. Stewart

No	28
Date of Notice	28 September 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Kilgour	Susannah Newbegging Hall
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Edward Kilgour	Sussannah Newbegging Hall
	💍 1897/1998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The shop & residence of Mrs. J. H. Hall, Tainui Street, Greymouth
Folio	97/3188
Consent	Jeanie Harkness Hall, mother, (the father being dead)
Date of Certificate	28 September 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. Stewart

29 September 1897

Henry Spencer Marshall
Maud Elizabeth Archer

Henry Spencer Marshall
Maud Elizabeth Archer
💍 1897/5

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28 years
25 years

Greymouth; Reefton
Greymouth; Te Awamutu, Waikato

5 days;
3 days;

The Church of England at Greymouth

97/3185

29 September 1897

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	29
Date of Notice	29 September 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Spencer Marshall	Maud Elizabeth Archer
	💍 1897/5
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth; Reefton	Greymouth; Te Awamutu, Waikato
Length of Residence	5 days;	3 days;
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Greymouth
Folio	97/3185
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 September 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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).