Intentions to Marry, 1909 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840440, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 723

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1909 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 1909

Robert Stewart
Mary Absalom

Robert Stewart
Mary Absolom
💍 1909/1247

Widower
Widow

Clergyman

59
49

Greymouth
Reefton

16 years
1 1/2 years

The Residence of Henry Smith Esq. Rosetown Reefton

09/1101

7 January 1909

Rev. David Arthur Anderson

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stewart	Mary Absalom
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Stewart	Mary Absolom
	💍 1909/1247
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Clergyman
Age	59	49
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Reefton
Length of Residence	16 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Henry Smith Esq. Rosetown Reefton
Folio	09/1101
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Arthur Anderson

12 January 1909

Arthur Edward Nelson
Nellie Roussel

Arthur Edward Nelson
Nellie Rannel
💍 1909/1188

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

22
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

22 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church

09/1060

12 January 1909

Dean D. P. Carew

No	2
Date of Notice	12 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Nelson	Nellie Roussel
BDM Match (86%)	Arthur Edward Nelson	Nellie Rannel
	💍 1909/1188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	09/1060
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Dean D. P. Carew

16 January 1909

Ellison Absalom
Emily Florence Nuttall

Ellison Absalom
Emily Florence Nuttall
💍 1909/1180

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

22
20

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 years
5 years

Methodist Church

09/1076

William Nuttall, Father

16 January 1909

Rev. Thos. W. Vealie

No	3
Date of Notice	16 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ellison Absalom	Emily Florence Nuttall
	💍 1909/1180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	09/1076
Consent	William Nuttall, Father
Date of Certificate	16 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. W. Vealie

18 January 1909

Joseph Johnson
Amelia May

Joseph Johnson
Amelia May
💍 1909/1170

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer
House and Dressmaker

36
38

Blackball
Greymouth

3 weeks
3 weeks

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Greymouth

09/1066

18 January 1909

A. Askenbeck, Deputy Registrar Marriages

No	4
Date of Notice	18 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Johnson	Amelia May
	💍 1909/1170
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer	House and Dressmaker
Age	36	38
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Greymouth
Folio	09/1066
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1909
Officiating Minister	A. Askenbeck, Deputy Registrar Marriages

18 January 1909

Patrick McCommicks
Jane Ann Hogan

Patrick McCormick
Jane Ann Hogan
💍 1909/3711

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

33
22

Moana
Maori Gully

3 years
2 1/2 years

Roman Catholic Church Maori Gully

09/1907

18 January 1909

Rev. Aubrey Jno. Goodman

No	5
Date of Notice	18 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick McCommicks	Jane Ann Hogan
BDM Match (94%)	Patrick McCormick	Jane Ann Hogan
	💍 1909/3711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Moana	Maori Gully
Length of Residence	3 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Maori Gully
Folio	09/1907
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Aubrey Jno. Goodman

25 January 1909

George Bansford
Bertha Coakley

George Bansgrove
Bertha Coakley
💍 1909/1795

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Duties

22
19

Denniston
Greymouth

3 months
19 years

Holy Trinity Church

Certificate not issued

No	6
Date of Notice	25 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bansford	Bertha Coakley
BDM Match (88%)	George Bansgrove	Bertha Coakley
	💍 1909/1795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	Certificate not issued
Officiating Minister

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 1908. 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).