Intentions to Marry, 1917 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840473, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1917e contains pages 1665-2196, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 1863

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar J. M. McIndoe

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

17 January 1917

Robert James Wylde
Margaret Ann Coppersmith

Robert James Wylde
Margaret Ann Coppersmith
💍 1917/2101

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
School teacher

31
20

Greymouth
Greymouth

14 years
3 years

St. John's Church Greymouth

1264

Thomas Coppersmith, Father

17 January 1917

Rev. J. W. Smyth

No	1
Date of Notice	17 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Wylde	Margaret Ann Coppersmith
	💍 1917/2101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	School teacher
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	14 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Greymouth
Folio	1264
Consent	Thomas Coppersmith, Father
Date of Certificate	17 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Smyth

18 January 1917

William Thomas Jamieson
Mary Honora Kennedy

William Thomas Jamieson
Mary Honora Kennedy
💍 1917/2099

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic

42
44

Greymouth
Greymouth

1 week
44 years

St. Patrick's Church Greymouth

1262

18 January 1917

Rev. Dean Carew

No	2
Date of Notice	18 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Jamieson	Mary Honora Kennedy
	💍 1917/2099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic
Age	42	44
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	1 week	44 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Greymouth
Folio	1262
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Carew

2 February 1917

Johan Dettef Linthardt
Amelia Masters

Johan Detlef Guthardt
Amelia Masters
💍 1917/2103

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

30
27

Runanga
Runanga

12 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church Runanga

1266

2 February 1917

Rev. J. W. Smyth

No	3
Date of Notice	2 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Johan Dettef Linthardt	Amelia Masters
BDM Match (91%)	Johan Detlef Guthardt	Amelia Masters
	💍 1917/2103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Runanga
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Runanga
Folio	1266
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Smyth

22 February 1917

Thomas William Rustard
Janet Green

Thomas William Bustard
Janey Green
💍 1917/2100

Thomas William Lewis
Esther Green
💍 1917/2417

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine-driver
Draper's assistant

33
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

32 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church Greymouth

1263

22 February 1917

Rev. Smyth

No	4
Date of Notice	22 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Rustard	Janet Green
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas William Bustard	Janey Green
	💍 1917/2100
BDM Match (63%)	Thomas William Lewis	Esther Green
	💍 1917/2417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine-driver	Draper's assistant
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	32 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Greymouth
Folio	1263
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Smyth

24 February 1917

Joseph Keats
Kate Devescovi

Joseph Skeats
Kate Devescovi
💍 1917/2102

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill-hand
Domestic

28
19

Cobden
Dunollie

28 years
19 years

Holy Trinity Church Greymouth

1265

Antonio Devescovi, father

24 February 1917

Rev. G. W. York

No	5
Date of Notice	24 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Keats	Kate Devescovi
BDM Match (92%)	Joseph Skeats	Kate Devescovi
	💍 1917/2102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill-hand	Domestic
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Dunollie
Length of Residence	28 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Greymouth
Folio	1265
Consent	Antonio Devescovi, father
Date of Certificate	24 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).