Intentions to Marry, 1900 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840417, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, September 12 2025

1900 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 860

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 June 1900 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 1900

Fred Mellor Owen
Bessie Maria Volbury

Fred Mellor Owen
Bessie Maria Potbury
💍 1900/1958

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

22 years
21 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 years
14 years

The private residence of Mrs Emily Volbury in Leonard Street Greymouth

00/3485

5 April 1900

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	11
Date of Notice	5 April 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Mellor Owen	Bessie Maria Volbury
BDM Match (95%)	Fred Mellor Owen	Bessie Maria Potbury
	💍 1900/1958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years	14 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mrs Emily Volbury in Leonard Street Greymouth
Folio	00/3485
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

6 April 1900

Charles Francis Frederick Beake
Mary Ann Fossye Coburn

Charles Francis Frederick Blake
Mary Ann Fossy Coburn
💍 1900/1959

Bachelor
Spinster

Boat Builder

29 years
26 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
26 years

The Church of England

00/3486

6 April 1900

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	12
Date of Notice	6 April 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Francis Frederick Beake	Mary Ann Fossye Coburn
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Francis Frederick Blake	Mary Ann Fossy Coburn
	💍 1900/1959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boat Builder
Age	29 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	26 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England
Folio	00/3486
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

29 May 1900

Thomas Williams McKenzie
Sarah Ann Berry Brown

Thomas William McKenzie
Sarah Ann Berry Brown
💍 1900/1960

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Dressmaker

29 years
23 years

Reefton
Greymouth

3 days
17 years

The residence in Greymouth of Mrs M. J. Batty, Tainui Street Greymouth

00/3487

29 May 1900

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	13
Date of Notice	29 May 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Williams McKenzie	Sarah Ann Berry Brown
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas William McKenzie	Sarah Ann Berry Brown
	💍 1900/1960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Dressmaker
Age	29 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	17 years
Marriage Place	The residence in Greymouth of Mrs M. J. Batty, Tainui Street Greymouth
Folio	00/3487
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

29 May 1900

Albert Murlagh Rothwell
Janet Ellen Rothwell

Albert Murtagh
Janet Ellen Rothwell
💍 1900/1968

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23 years
19 years

Kumara
Greymouth

3 days
1 week

The Church of England at Greymouth

00/3488

Richard Rothwell, father

29 May 1900

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	14
Date of Notice	29 May 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Murlagh Rothwell	Janet Ellen Rothwell
BDM Match (78%)	Albert Murtagh	Janet Ellen Rothwell
	💍 1900/1968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Greymouth
Folio	00/3488
Consent	Richard Rothwell, father
Date of Certificate	29 May 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

4 June 1900

Edgar Perceval Turner
Amalia Skoglund

Edgar Percival Turner
Amalia Skoglund
💍 1900/1979

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

25 years
29 years

Lyellton
Greymouth

5 weeks
23 years

The Church of England at Greymouth

00/3489

4 June 1900

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	15
Date of Notice	4 June 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Perceval Turner	Amalia Skoglund
BDM Match (98%)	Edgar Percival Turner	Amalia Skoglund
	💍 1900/1979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	25 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Lyellton	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 weeks	23 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Greymouth
Folio	00/3489
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

14 June 1900

Howard Davis
Ellen Nora Jeffree

Howard Davis
Ellen Nora Jeffree
💍 1900/3076

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23 years
21 years

Cobden
Brunnerton, Taylorville

23 years
21 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

00/723

14 June 1900

B. Harper

No	16
Date of Notice	14 June 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Howard Davis	Ellen Nora Jeffree
	💍 1900/3076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Brunnerton, Taylorville
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	00/723
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1900
Officiating Minister	B. Harper

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).