Intentions to Marry, 1903 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840424, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 10 2025.

1903 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 182

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1903 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

7 January 1903

Ernest Scholfield
Mary Jane Jeffery

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Domestic

21
21

Craizieburn
Cobden

7 days
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth

03/862

7 January 1903

Rev. J. S. Herbert

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Scholfield	Mary Jane Jeffery
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Craizieburn	Cobden
Length of Residence	7 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth
Folio	03/862
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Herbert

13 January 1903

Alexander Kilpatrick
Mabel Sinclair

Alexander Cecil Thilpatrick
Mabel Sinclair
💍 1903/1938

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

6 months
4 days

Residence of Robert Stewart, Tainui Street, Greymouth

03/1474

13 January 1903

Rev. Robert Stewart

No	2
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Kilpatrick	Mabel Sinclair
BDM Match (85%)	Alexander Cecil Thilpatrick	Mabel Sinclair
	💍 1903/1938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Stewart, Tainui Street, Greymouth
Folio	03/1474
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Stewart

13 January 1903

William Carleton Ruffell
Emma King

William Carlton Ruffell
Emma King
💍 1903/1609

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
School Teacher

29
21

Dunedin
Moonlight

3 days in Greymouth
5 days in Greymouth

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

03/859

13 January 1903

Benjamin Harper, Registrar of Marriages

No	3
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Carleton Ruffell	Emma King
BDM Match (98%)	William Carlton Ruffell	Emma King
	💍 1903/1609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	School Teacher
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Moonlight
Length of Residence	3 days in Greymouth	5 days in Greymouth
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	03/859
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper, Registrar of Marriages

22 January 1903

William Morris
Okura Hornbach

William Morris
Okura Thornback
💍 1903/1939

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

23
16

Kaneiri
Kokataki

4 days
4 days

Presbyterian Manse, Tainui Street, Greymouth

03/1475

Henry Hornbach, father

22 January 1903

Rev. Robert Stewart

No	4
Date of Notice	22 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morris	Okura Hornbach
BDM Match (90%)	William Morris	Okura Thornback
	💍 1903/1939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Kaneiri	Kokataki
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Tainui Street, Greymouth
Folio	03/1475
Consent	Henry Hornbach, father
Date of Certificate	22 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Stewart

5 February 1903

Alexander Rennie Porteous
Margaret Galbraith Hambleton

Alexander Rennie Porteous
Margaret Galbraith Hambleton
💍 1903/1616

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Accountant

31
28

Greymouth
Greymouth

10 years
14 years

Church of England, Greymouth

03/866

5 February 1903

Rev. Geo. W. Wyor

No	5
Date of Notice	5 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Rennie Porteous	Margaret Galbraith Hambleton
	💍 1903/1616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Accountant
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	10 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	03/866
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. Wyor

10 February 1903

Neils George Olsen
Grace Ellen Banks

Neils George Olsen
Grace Ellen Banks
💍 1903/1610

Bachelor
Spinster

Bridge Carpenter

23
21

Greymouth
Reefton

23 years
14 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

03/860

10 February 1903

Benjamin Harper, Registrar of Marriages

No	6
Date of Notice	10 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neils George Olsen	Grace Ellen Banks
	💍 1903/1610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bridge Carpenter
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Reefton
Length of Residence	23 years	14 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	03/860
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper, Registrar of Marriages

16 February 1903

Stephen O'Leary
Helena Hinnegan

Stephen OLeary
Helena Hinnigan
💍 1903/1615

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer

33
29

Korhiri
Maori Gully

3 years
29 years

Roman Catholic Church, Maori Gully

03/865

16 February 1903

Rev. Dennis Leen

No	7
Date of Notice	16 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen O'Leary	Helena Hinnegan
BDM Match (93%)	Stephen OLeary	Helena Hinnigan
	💍 1903/1615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Korhiri	Maori Gully
Length of Residence	3 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Maori Gully
Folio	03/865
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dennis Leen

20 February 1903

John George Morgan
Effie Reynolds

John George Morgan
Effie Reynolds
💍 1903/1618

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
18

Cobden
Greymouth

6 months
6 months

Church of England, Greymouth

03/867

Jane Baker, mother

20 February 1903

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	8
Date of Notice	20 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Morgan	Effie Reynolds
	💍 1903/1618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	03/867
Consent	Jane Baker, mother
Date of Certificate	20 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. 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).