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 739

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 December 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

1 November 1909

Leonard Brewer
Hermina Stowe

Leonard Brewer
Hermina Stowe
💍 1909/5700

Bachelor
Spinster

Customs Officer

25
24

Greymouth
Christchurch

11 months
2 years 6 months

St. Saviour's Church

09/7256

1 November 1909

Rev. P. J. Cocks, B. A.

No	69
Date of Notice	1 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Brewer	Hermina Stowe
	💍 1909/5700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Customs Officer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Christchurch
Length of Residence	11 months	2 years 6 months
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church
Folio	09/7256
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, B. A.

6 November 1909

Frederick Charles Hall
Lily May Imilda Callaghan

Frederick Charles Hall
Lily May Emilda Callahgan
💍 1909/5596

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

24
24

Runanga
Greymouth

6 months
6 months

Anglican Church at Runanga

09/1099

6 November 1909

Rev. Tom F. Taylor

No	70
Date of Notice	6 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Hall	Lily May Imilda Callaghan
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Charles Hall	Lily May Emilda Callahgan
	💍 1909/5596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church at Runanga
Folio	09/1099
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Tom F. Taylor

8 November 1909

William James Seguin
Alice Mary Quinn

William James Seguin
Alice Mary Quinn
💍 1909/6529

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Guard
Dressmaker

32
28

Hokitika
Greymouth

9 months
3 years

St. Patrick's Church

09/8102

8 November 1909

Very Rev. D. Carew, Dean

No	71
Date of Notice	8 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Seguin	Alice Mary Quinn
	💍 1909/6529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard	Dressmaker
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Greymouth
Length of Residence	9 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church
Folio	09/8102
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. D. Carew, Dean

8 November 1909

Christopher William Edwards
Margaret Thompson

Christopher William Edwards
Margaret Thompson
💍 1909/5586

Bachelor
Widow

Clerk
Boarding-house Keeper

46
36

Otira
Otira

9 months
2 years

Holy Trinity Church

09/7107

8 November 1909

Rev. E. K. Mules

No	72
Date of Notice	8 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher William Edwards	Margaret Thompson
	💍 1909/5586
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Clerk	Boarding-house Keeper
Age	46	36
Dwelling Place	Otira	Otira
Length of Residence	9 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	09/7107
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. K. Mules

8 November 1909

George Gillanders
Margaret Ann Matilda Hearn (Known as O'Neill)

George Gillanders
Margaret Ann Matilda O'Neill
💍 1909/5603

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver

32
20

Aralika
Dunollie

4 years
6 months

St. Thomas' Church

09/1098

Ann Frances O'Neill, formerly Hearn (mother)

8 November 1909

Rev. Tom F. Taylor

No	73
Date of Notice	8 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gillanders	Margaret Ann Matilda Hearn (Known as O'Neill)
BDM Match (81%)	George Gillanders	Margaret Ann Matilda O'Neill
	💍 1909/5603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Aralika	Dunollie
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church
Folio	09/1098
Consent	Ann Frances O'Neill, formerly Hearn (mother)
Date of Certificate	8 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Tom F. Taylor

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).