Intentions to Marry, 1911 Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840446, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 898

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 1911 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

15 August 1911

Patrick Francis McEvedy
Katherine Helena Campbell

Patrick Francis McEvedy
Katherine Helena Campbell
💍 1911/5242

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Lady

31
28

Wellington, Greymouth
Greymouth

2 years 4 days
28 years

St. Patrick's Church at Greymouth

11/5046

15 August 1911

Rev. D.P. Carew

No	54
Date of Notice	15 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Francis McEvedy	Katherine Helena Campbell
	💍 1911/5242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Lady
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington, Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 years 4 days	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church at Greymouth
Folio	11/5046
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. D.P. Carew

15 August 1911

William Henry Hietstern
Katrina Blockley

William Henry Nietenstein
Katrina Blockscip
💍 1911/5410

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

42
43

Greymouth
Greymouth

40 years
40 years

Residence of Mr. Hietstern, Blacktown

11/5240

15 August 1911

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	58
Date of Notice	15 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hietstern	Katrina Blockley
BDM Match (80%)	William Henry Nietenstein	Katrina Blockscip
	💍 1911/5410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	42	43
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	40 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Hietstern, Blacktown
Folio	11/5240
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

19 August 1911

Edward McDonnell
Emily Roche

Edward McDonnell
Emily Roche
💍 1911/5241

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

29
28

Greymouth
Greymouth

29 years
14 years

St. Patrick's Church at Greymouth

11/5076

19 August 1911

Rev. D.P. Carew

No	59
Date of Notice	19 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward McDonnell	Emily Roche
	💍 1911/5241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	29 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church at Greymouth
Folio	11/5076
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. D.P. Carew

25 August 1911

John Henry Goodhead
Bepa Chido

John Henry Goodhead
Bepa Chiads Fiorio
💍 1911/8396

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter & Turner

21
19

Greymouth
Greymouth

6 months
10 years

Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth

11/8456

Maria Mayocchi, formerly Fiorio (Mother)

25 August 1911

Rev. D.P. Carew

No	60
Date of Notice	25 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Goodhead	Bepa Chido
BDM Match (78%)	John Henry Goodhead	Bepa Chiads Fiorio
	💍 1911/8396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter & Turner
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth
Folio	11/8456
Consent	Maria Mayocchi, formerly Fiorio (Mother)
Date of Certificate	25 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. D.P. Carew

2 September 1911

Hinrich Heidorn
Sophy May Ridout

Hinrich Heidorn
Sophy May Ridout
💍 1911/4319

Bachelor
Widow

Blacksmith
Cook

56
40

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
7 years

Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth

11/5241

2 September 1911

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	61
Date of Notice	2 September 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hinrich Heidorn	Sophy May Ridout
	💍 1911/4319
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Blacksmith	Cook
Age	56	40
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth
Folio	11/5241
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1911
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 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).