Intentions to Marry, 1913 Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840452, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1913 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1913a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1913b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1913c).

Page 910

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 December 1913 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

20 December 1913

Henry Lawrence Neilson
Bertha Brindle

Henry Lawrence Neilson
Bertha Grindle
💍 1913/7807

Henry Lawrence Neilson
Bertha Grindle
💍 1913/9187

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic Duties

27
23

Blackball, Greymouth
Blackball, Greymouth

13 years
3 days

Holy Trinity Church

13/7597

20 December 1913

Rev. L. W. York

No	74
Date of Notice	20 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lawrence Neilson	Bertha Brindle
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Lawrence Neilson	Bertha Grindle
	💍 1913/7807
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Lawrence Neilson	Bertha Grindle
	💍 1913/9187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Blackball, Greymouth	Blackball, Greymouth
Length of Residence	13 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	13/7597
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. W. York

20 December 1913

John Lawrence Daniel Turner
Margaret McIvin

John Lawrence Daniel Turner
Margaret McGirr
💍 1913/8942

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
Domestic

28
19

Ruatapu, Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
19 years

St. Patrick's Church

8321

Patrick McIvin, father

20 December 1913

Very Rev. Dean W. P. Carew

No	75
Date of Notice	20 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lawrence Daniel Turner	Margaret McIvin
BDM Match (87%)	John Lawrence Daniel Turner	Margaret McGirr
	💍 1913/8942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	Domestic
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Ruatapu, Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church
Folio	8321
Consent	Patrick McIvin, father
Date of Certificate	20 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean W. P. Carew

20 December 1913

Ernest James Healey
Constance Evelyn White

Ernest James Healey
Constance Evelyn White
💍 1913/7808

Bachelor
Spinster

Agricultural Instructor
Household Duties

30
30

Brunnerton, Greymouth
Greymouth

1 year
7 days

Holy Trinity Church

13/7598

22 December 1913

Ven. G. W. York

No	76
Date of Notice	20 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest James Healey	Constance Evelyn White
	💍 1913/7808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agricultural Instructor	Household Duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton, Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	1 year	7 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	13/7598
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Ven. G. W. York

23 December 1913

William Richard Farmer
Agnes Ann Phelan

William Richard Farmer
Agnes Ann Phelan
💍 1913/7809

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household Duties

31
33

Ngahere, Greymouth
Kumara, Greymouth

18 months
33 years

Holy Trinity Church

13/7599

23 December 1913

Ven. G. W. York

No	77
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Farmer	Agnes Ann Phelan
	💍 1913/7809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household Duties
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Ngahere, Greymouth	Kumara, Greymouth
Length of Residence	18 months	33 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	13/7599
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Ven. G. W. York

23 December 1913

William Redmund Honey
Grace Alexander Scotland

William Redmund Honey
Grace Alexander Scotland
💍 1914/7478

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

33
33

Kokiri, Greymouth
Greymouth

5 years
5 weeks

Holy Trinity Church

1342

23 December 1913

Ven. G. W. York

No	78
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Redmund Honey	Grace Alexander Scotland
	💍 1914/7478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Kokiri, Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	1342
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Ven. G. 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).