Intentions to Marry, 1902 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840422, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke and Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 3 and October 8, 2025.

1902 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 182

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar M. B. Evans, Deputy Registrar

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

14 May 1902

Charles William Cribb
Nellie Sothern

Charles William Edward Cribb
Nellie Sotheran
💍 1902/1738

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

29
28

Greymouth
Greymouth

6 years
28 years

Church of England, Greymouth

02/2434

14 May 1902

Rev. G. W. York

No	26
Date of Notice	14 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Cribb	Nellie Sothern
BDM Match (84%)	Charles William Edward Cribb	Nellie Sotheran
	💍 1902/1738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	02/2434
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

19 May 1902

Michael Kelly
Eliza Grace Thomson

Michael Kelly
Eliza Grace Thomson
💍 1902/1735

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

27
17

Greymouth; Awatuna (near Hokitika)
Greymouth

3 days;
5 months

Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth

02/2431

Alexander Thomson (father)

19 May 1902

Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

No	27
Date of Notice	19 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Kelly	Eliza Grace Thomson
	💍 1902/1735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Greymouth; Awatuna (near Hokitika)	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days;	5 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth
Folio	02/2431
Consent	Alexander Thomson (father)
Date of Certificate	19 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

20 May 1902

Frank Ethelbert Blake
Ellen Burke

Frank Ethelbert Blake
Ellen Bourke
💍 1902/1733

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

28
27

Greymouth
Greymouth

7 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth

02/2430

20 May 1902

Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

No	28
Date of Notice	20 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Ethelbert Blake	Ellen Burke
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Ethelbert Blake	Ellen Bourke
	💍 1902/1733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	7 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth
Folio	02/2430
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

26 May 1902

Patrick Tobin
Catherine Lucy Stephens

Patrick Tobin
Catherine Lucy Stephens
💍 1902/1739

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

26
24

Greymouth; Nelson Creek
Greymouth

4 days;

Residence of Mrs. Emma Stephens, Franklyn Street, Greymouth

02/2435

26 May 1902

Rev. G. W. York

No	29
Date of Notice	26 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Tobin	Catherine Lucy Stephens
	💍 1902/1739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth; Nelson Creek	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 days;
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Emma Stephens, Franklyn Street, Greymouth
Folio	02/2435
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

27 May 1902

John George Walton
Elizabeth Earl

John George Walton
Elizabeth Earl
💍 1902/1740

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer

35
26

Greymouth
Greymouth

34 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. William Earl, Blaketown, Greymouth

02/2436

27 May 1902

Rev. G. W. York

No	30
Date of Notice	27 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Walton	Elizabeth Earl
	💍 1902/1740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	34 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. William Earl, Blaketown, Greymouth
Folio	02/2436
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

30 May 1902

Robert Linsy Hunter
Jemima Spowart

Robert Linsy Hunter
Jemima Spowart
💍 1902/1759

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Dressmaker

22
26

Greymouth; Kokiri
Cobden

6 weeks;
3 days

Residence of Mr. George Gillanders, Cobden

02/2437

30 May 1902

Rev. R. Stewart

No	31
Date of Notice	30 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Linsy Hunter	Jemima Spowart
	💍 1902/1759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Dressmaker
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Greymouth; Kokiri	Cobden
Length of Residence	6 weeks;	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. George Gillanders, Cobden
Folio	02/2437
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Stewart

23 June 1902

Robert John Newman
Emily Louisa Hahn

Robert John Newman
Emily Louisa Hahn
💍 1902/4207

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic Duties

25
19

Kokiri
Kokiri

2 years
13 years

Residence of Mr. John Hahn, Kokiri

02/3923

John Hahn (father)

23 June 1902

Rev. A. W. C. Stace

No	32
Date of Notice	23 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Newman	Emily Louisa Hahn
	💍 1902/4207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic Duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Kokiri	Kokiri
Length of Residence	2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Hahn, Kokiri
Folio	02/3923
Consent	John Hahn (father)
Date of Certificate	23 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. C. Stace

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).