Intentions to Marry, 1901 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840420, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 22 2025

1901 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 178

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1901 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

2 February 1901

Albert Edward Dunshea
Janet Hanna

Albert Edward Dunshia
Janet Hanna
💍 1901/512

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

23
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

6 days
7 years

Registrar's Office, Greymouth

01/787

2 February 1901

B. Harper, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	2 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Dunshea	Janet Hanna
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Edward Dunshia	Janet Hanna
	💍 1901/512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Greymouth
Folio	01/787
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1901
Officiating Minister	B. Harper, Registrar

26 February 1901

Mathias Olsen
Marylda Wisdom

Matthias Olsen
Mary Ida Wisdom
💍 1901/514

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

35
31

Cobden
Cobden

2 weeks
3 years

The private residence of Mr. G. Walker. Cosgrove Street, Cobden

01/790

26 February 1901

Rev. [Unreadable]

No	10
Date of Notice	26 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mathias Olsen	Marylda Wisdom
BDM Match (90%)	Matthias Olsen	Mary Ida Wisdom
	💍 1901/514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Cobden
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mr. G. Walker. Cosgrove Street, Cobden
Folio	01/790
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. [Unreadable]

27 February 1901

John Henry Weaver
Jane Smailes

John Henry Weaver
Jane Smailes
💍 1901/513

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

25
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

11 years
5 years

[Unreadable], Greymouth

01/789

27 February 1901

Rev. [Unreadable]

No	11
Date of Notice	27 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Weaver	Jane Smailes
	💍 1901/513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	11 years	5 years
Marriage Place	[Unreadable], Greymouth
Folio	01/789
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. [Unreadable]

4 March 1901

Charles Bainbridge Harrop
Grace Morris

Charles Bainbridge Harrop
Grace Morris
💍 1901/515

Widower
Widow

Miner
Servant

38
39

Greymouth
Greymouth

14 days
4 days

The English Church, Greymouth

01/791

4 March 1901

Rev. G. W. York

No	12
Date of Notice	4 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bainbridge Harrop	Grace Morris
	💍 1901/515
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	38	39
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	14 days	4 days
Marriage Place	The English Church, Greymouth
Folio	01/791
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

8 March 1901

Alexander Mikoz
Georgina Herring

Alexander Mikoz
Georgina Herring
💍 1901/529

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Servant

27
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Greymouth

01/784

8 March 1901

B. Harper, Registrar

No	13
Date of Notice	8 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Mikoz	Georgina Herring
	💍 1901/529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Servant
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Greymouth
Folio	01/784
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1901
Officiating Minister	B. Harper, Registrar

27 March 1901

Frederick Emmerson
Florence Turley

Frederick Emmerson
Florance Turley
💍 1901/510

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Hand

25
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 1/2 years
22 years

Private Residence of Mr. Wm Turley, Tarapuhi Street, Greymouth

01/786

27 March 1901

Captain John Ward

No	14
Date of Notice	27 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Emmerson	Florence Turley
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Emmerson	Florance Turley
	💍 1901/510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Hand
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mr. Wm Turley, Tarapuhi Street, Greymouth
Folio	01/786
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Captain John Ward

27 March 1901

Thomas Lawrence Lindsay Cunliffe
Isabella McNaughton

Thomas Lawrence Lindsay Cunliffe
Isabella McNaughton
💍 1901/530

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

22
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

22 years
3 years

The Office of the Registrar, Greymouth

01/785

27 March 1901

B. Harper, Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	27 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lawrence Lindsay Cunliffe	Isabella McNaughton
	💍 1901/530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar, Greymouth
Folio	01/785
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1901
Officiating Minister	B. Harper, Registrar

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).