Intentions to Marry, 1910 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840443, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1910 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1910a), Wellington, , Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Westland (1910b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1910c).

Page 834

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1910 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

16 February 1910

Ernst John Reed
Esther Beata Roberts

Ernest John Reed
Esther Beata Roberts
💍 1910/1229

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

34
18

Brunnerton
Brunnerton

14 days in Greymouth
14 days in Greymouth

Holy Trinity Church Greymouth

10/1244

Joseph Roberts Father

16 February 1910

Archdeacon G.W. York

No	19
Date of Notice	16 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernst John Reed	Esther Beata Roberts
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest John Reed	Esther Beata Roberts
	💍 1910/1229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	34	18
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton	Brunnerton
Length of Residence	14 days in Greymouth	14 days in Greymouth
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Greymouth
Folio	10/1244
Consent	Joseph Roberts Father
Date of Certificate	16 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon G.W. York

21 February 1910

Henry William Beechener
Olivia Iris Lennie

Henry William Beechener
Olivia Iris Lennie
💍 1910/1232

Bachelor
Spinster

Actor

29
19

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 months
1 year

Rewa Private Hospital at Greymouth

10/1246

Alexander Hayderson Lennie. Father

21 February 1910

Rev. Thos W. Vealie

No	20
Date of Notice	21 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Beechener	Olivia Iris Lennie
	💍 1910/1232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Actor
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Rewa Private Hospital at Greymouth
Folio	10/1246
Consent	Alexander Hayderson Lennie. Father
Date of Certificate	21 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos W. Vealie

3 March 1910

Matthew Hale
Alice Smith

Matthew Hale
Alice Smith
💍 1910/1185

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgehand

26
21

Westport
Westport

3 weeks in Greymouth
2 weeks in Greymouth

The office of the Registrar of Marriages in Greymouth

10/1262

3 March 1910

Benjamin Harper Registrar of Marriages

No	21
Date of Notice	3 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Hale	Alice Smith
	💍 1910/1185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgehand
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 weeks in Greymouth	2 weeks in Greymouth
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages in Greymouth
Folio	10/1262
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper Registrar of Marriages

11 March 1910

Frederick Henry Hopkins
Margaret Lucy Garth

Frederick Henry Hopkins
Margaret Lucy Garth
💍 1910/1190

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Music Teacher

25
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

25 years
18 years

Methodist Church Greymouth

10/1256

11 March 1910

Rev. Thos W. Vealie

No	22
Date of Notice	11 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Hopkins	Margaret Lucy Garth
	💍 1910/1190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Music Teacher
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	25 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Greymouth
Folio	10/1256
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos W. Vealie

14 March 1910

Alfred Nielsen
Rosetta Bourke

Alfred Nielsen
Rosetta Bourke
💍 1910/1186

Bachelor
Divorced. Decree absolute made at Sydney N.S.W. 28.5.1907. Husband's name Michael Bourke

Fisherman

34
38

Pelorus Sound
Greymouth

3 days in Greymouth
3 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages Greymouth

10/1263

14 March 1910

Benjamin Harper Registrar of Marriages

No	23
Date of Notice	14 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Nielsen	Rosetta Bourke
	💍 1910/1186
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced. Decree absolute made at Sydney N.S.W. 28.5.1907. Husband's name Michael Bourke
Profession	Fisherman
Age	34	38
Dwelling Place	Pelorus Sound	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days in Greymouth	3 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Greymouth
Folio	10/1263
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper Registrar of Marriages

18 March 1910

Edward Airey
Mary Margaret Baty

Edward Airey
Mary Margaret Baty
💍 1910/1191

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
24

Greymouth
Coal Creek Greymouth

4 years
23 years

Methodist Church Greymouth

10/1257

18 March 1910

Rev. T.W. Vealie

No	24
Date of Notice	18 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Airey	Mary Margaret Baty
	💍 1910/1191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Coal Creek Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Greymouth
Folio	10/1257
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. T.W. Vealie

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).