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 177

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1902

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 February 1902

Anthony Sealmer
Mary Prendergast

Anthony Scalmer
Mary Prendergast
💍 1902/782

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Laborer

26
28

Leobden
Leobden

26 years
15 months

Hofars Roman Catholic Church

02/908

5 February 1902

Dean D. Maren

No	7
Date of Notice	5 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Sealmer	Mary Prendergast
BDM Match (97%)	Anthony Scalmer	Mary Prendergast
	💍 1902/782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Laborer
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Leobden	Leobden
Length of Residence	26 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Hofars Roman Catholic Church
Folio	02/908
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Dean D. Maren

6 February 1902

John O'Donnell
Catherine Maloney

John ODonnell
Catherine Moloney
💍 1902/781

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Contractor

35
28

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
3 years

St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church

02/907

6 February 1902

Dean D. Maren

No	8
Date of Notice	6 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John O'Donnell	Catherine Maloney
BDM Match (94%)	John ODonnell	Catherine Moloney
	💍 1902/781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Contractor
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church
Folio	02/907
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Dean D. Maren

8 February 1902

Samuel Cole
Mary Isabella Aynsly

Samuel Cole
Mary Isabella Aynsley
💍 1902/783

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Laborer

31
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

5 years
5 years at Karoro

Private residence of Mrs. Aynsly

02/909

8 February 1902

Rev. J. L. Kimbel

No	9
Date of Notice	8 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Cole	Mary Isabella Aynsly
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Cole	Mary Isabella Aynsley
	💍 1902/783
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Laborer
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years at Karoro
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mrs. Aynsly
Folio	02/909
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Kimbel

12 February 1902

Albert Stillman
Florence Seaber

Albert Stillman
Florence Seabea King
💍 1902/1758

Albert Stillman
Florence Seabee Tennant
💍 1902/1260

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Miner

28
38

Reefton
Reefton

4 days
4 days

The Presbyterian Manse, Reefton

02/912

12 February 1902

Rev. Robt. Stewart

No	10
Date of Notice	12 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Stillman	Florence Seaber
BDM Match (85%)	Albert Stillman	Florence Seabea King
	💍 1902/1758
BDM Match (80%)	Albert Stillman	Florence Seabee Tennant
	💍 1902/1260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Miner
Age	28	38
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, Reefton
Folio	02/912
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. Stewart

19 February 1902

Albert Edwin Burrell
Esther Law McLean

Albert Edwin Burrell
Esther Law McLauchlan
💍 1902/776

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker
Cabinet Maker

25
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

2 years
4 years

Trinity Church, Greymouth

02/903

19 February 1902

Rev. W. York

No	11
Date of Notice	19 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edwin Burrell	Esther Law McLean
BDM Match (88%)	Albert Edwin Burrell	Esther Law McLauchlan
	💍 1902/776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker	Cabinet Maker
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	02/903
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. York

7 March 1902

Thomas James Wallis
Mary Maud Lines

Thomas James Wallis
Maude Mary Lines
💍 1902/777

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Miner

25
22

Rutherglen
Rutherglen

6 months
2 years

Church of England, Greymouth

02/902

9 March 1902

Rev. W. York

No	12
Date of Notice	7 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Wallis	Mary Maud Lines
BDM Match (84%)	Thomas James Wallis	Maude Mary Lines
	💍 1902/777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Miner
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Rutherglen	Rutherglen
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	02/902
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. 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).

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).