Intentions to Marry, 1898 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840414, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 27 2025

1898 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 271

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 1898 Registrar B. 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 July 1898

Alderson Naylor
Mary Elizabeth Spensley

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24 years
19 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

23 years
19 years

The Church of England at Greymouth

98/3/30

Richard Collins, father

5 July 1898

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	11
Date of Notice	5 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alderson Naylor	Mary Elizabeth Spensley
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	23 years	19 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Greymouth
Folio	98/3/30
Consent	Richard Collins, father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

12 July 1898

Llewellyn Scott
Ruth Alger

Llewellyn Scott
Ruth Alger
💍 1898/3018

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Cleaner

23 years
23 years

Omotumotu Road
Greymouth

5 years
5 years

The private residence of Mrs. Alger, Chapel Street, Greymouth

98/3/31

12 July 1898

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	12
Date of Notice	12 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewellyn Scott	Ruth Alger
	💍 1898/3018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Cleaner
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Omotumotu Road	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mrs. Alger, Chapel Street, Greymouth
Folio	98/3/31
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

19 July 1898

James Earl
Mary Jane Keating

James Earl
Mary Jane Keating
💍 1898/3023

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24 years
18 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

16 years
18 years

The private residence of John Keating, Leonard Street, Greymouth

98/3/35

John Keating, father

19 July 1898

Rev. D. P. Carew

No	13
Date of Notice	19 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Earl	Mary Jane Keating
	💍 1898/3023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	16 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of John Keating, Leonard Street, Greymouth
Folio	98/3/35
Consent	John Keating, father
Date of Certificate	19 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. P. Carew

30 July 1898

Henry Lynch
Agnes McLeod

Henry Lynch
Agnes McLeod
💍 1898/3016

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

30 years
25 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

29 years
25 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

98/3/29

30 July 1898

B. Harper, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	30 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lynch	Agnes McLeod
	💍 1898/3016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	30 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	98/3/29
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1898
Officiating Minister	B. Harper, Registrar

2 August 1898

Emil Philip Heinz
Emma Louisa Orams

Emil Philip Heinz
Emma Louisa Orams
💍 1898/3019

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

29 years
22 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

29 years
9 years

The private residence of Geo. Orams, Tainui Street, Greymouth

98/3/32

2 August 1898

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	15
Date of Notice	2 August 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emil Philip Heinz	Emma Louisa Orams
	💍 1898/3019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	29 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	29 years	9 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Geo. Orams, Tainui Street, Greymouth
Folio	98/3/32
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

3 August 1898

Arthur Thomas Boddy
Alice Masters

Arthur Thomas Boddy
Alice Masters
💍 1898/3024

Bachelor
Spinster

Monedier

25 years
28 years

Greymouth
Brunnerton

20 years
9 years

The Wesleyan Church at Greymouth

98/3/36

3 August 1898

Rev. J. Garlick

No	16
Date of Notice	3 August 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thomas Boddy	Alice Masters
	💍 1898/3024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Monedier
Age	25 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Brunnerton
Length of Residence	20 years	9 years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Church at Greymouth
Folio	98/3/36
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Garlick

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).