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 185

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 1902 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

8 July 1902

John Richard Abram
Annie Eliza West

John Richard Abram
Annie Eliza West
💍 1902/4072

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

26
25

Wellington
Greymouth

4 days
20 years

Private residence of Mr. Henry Cow, West Leonard Street, Greymouth

09/3909

8 July 1902

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	33
Date of Notice	8 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard Abram	Annie Eliza West
	💍 1902/4072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. Henry Cow, West Leonard Street, Greymouth
Folio	09/3909
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

14 July 1902

Patrick Thomas Quinn
Margaret Bridget O'Hara

Patrick Thomas Quinn
Margaret Bridget OHara
💍 1902/4076

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
22

South Beach
Greymouth

2 years
18 months

Roman Catholic Church

02/3913

17 July 1902

Rev. F. L. Kinbed

No	34
Date of Notice	14 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Thomas Quinn	Margaret Bridget O'Hara
BDM Match (98%)	Patrick Thomas Quinn	Margaret Bridget OHara
	💍 1902/4076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	South Beach	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	02/3913
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. L. Kinbed

18 July 1902

John Joseph Ryall
Alice Prendergast

John Joseph Ryall
Alice Prendergast
💍 1902/4077

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

27
25

Barrytown
Cobden

2 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church

02/3914

18 July 1902

Dean D. P. Carew

No	35
Date of Notice	18 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Ryall	Alice Prendergast
	💍 1902/4077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Barrytown	Cobden
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	02/3914
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Dean D. P. Carew

29 July 1902

Arthur Elias Benjamin
Jessie Sarah Johnson

Arthur Elias Benjamin
Jessie Sarah Johnson
💍 1902/4068

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
23

Hokitika
Greymouth

3 days
14 days

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

02/3905

29 July 1902

The Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

No	36
Date of Notice	29 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Elias Benjamin	Jessie Sarah Johnson
	💍 1902/4068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	02/3905
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1902
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

29 July 1902

Hugo Lundqvist
Emma Claughesy

Hugo Lundquist
Emma Claughesy
💍 1902/4079

Bachelor
Spinster

33
29

Ngahere
Greymouth

3 days
15 years

Roman Catholic Church

02/3915

29 July 1902

Dean D. P. Carew

No	37
Date of Notice	29 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugo Lundqvist	Emma Claughesy
BDM Match (96%)	Hugo Lundquist	Emma Claughesy
	💍 1902/4079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Ngahere	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	02/3915
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Dean D. P. Carew

29 July 1902

John King
Margaret Marion Simpson

John King
Margaret Marion Simpson
💍 1902/4069

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

21
33

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 months
2 1/2 months

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

02/3906

29 July 1902

The Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

No	38
Date of Notice	29 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John King	Margaret Marion Simpson
	💍 1902/4069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	21	33
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 months	2 1/2 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	02/3906
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1902
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

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).