Intentions to Marry, 1877

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840389, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 177

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar Edward Henry Power

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

680

4 January 1877

John Rogers
Sarah Montague

John Rogers
Sarah Montague
💍 1877/214

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

31 years
30 years

Thames
Thames

1 year
1 year

St Francis Roman Catholic Church Thames

24 January 1877

Rev. S. Chastagnon

No	680
Date of Notice	4 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rogers	Sarah Montague
	💍 1877/214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	31 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	St Francis Roman Catholic Church Thames
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Chastagnon

681

18 January 1877

Edward Wm Read
Amaria Brame

Edward McLeod
Maria Brame
💍 1877/213

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic

23 years
21 years

Thames
Thames

8 years
8 years

In the dwelling house occupied by Wm. John MacDonald, Beach Road Thames

18 January 1877

Rev. R. Soichley

No	681
Date of Notice	18 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Wm Read	Amaria Brame
BDM Match (74%)	Edward McLeod	Maria Brame
	💍 1877/213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling house occupied by Wm. John MacDonald, Beach Road Thames
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Soichley

682

20 January 1877

Robert Smith
Emma Nairn
nee Kent

Robert Smith
Emma Nairn
💍 1877/217

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

35 years
38 years

Thames
Thames

8 years
2 years

In the dwelling house occupied by W. J. Wright, Pollen St. Thames

22 January 1877

Rev. James Hill

No	682
Date of Notice	20 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Smith	Emma Nairn nee Kent
	💍 1877/217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	35 years	38 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling house occupied by W. J. Wright, Pollen St. Thames
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hill

683

2 February 1877

George Baragwanath Barker
Mary Ann Gibson
nee Jolly

Gee Sargent Barker
Mary Ann Gibson
💍 1877/218

Widower
Widow

Carpenter
Domestic

44 years
35 years

Waitangiuna
Waitangiuna

8 years
8 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Thames

22 February 1877

E. H. Power

No	683
Date of Notice	2 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Baragwanath Barker	Mary Ann Gibson nee Jolly
BDM Match (82%)	Gee Sargent Barker	Mary Ann Gibson
	💍 1877/218
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	44 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Waitangiuna	Waitangiuna
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Thames
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1877
Officiating Minister	E. H. Power

684

25 March 1877

William Walter Otter
Sarah Ann Ross

William Walton Otter
Sarah Ann Ross
💍 1877/212

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

23 years
19 years

Karaka
Eureka

8 years
8 years

In the dwelling house occupied by Wm. Otter, Karaka

Sarah Ross, mother

21 March 1877

Rev. J. Lush

No	684
Date of Notice	25 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Otter	Sarah Ann Ross
BDM Match (95%)	William Walton Otter	Sarah Ann Ross
	💍 1877/212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Karaka	Eureka
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling house occupied by Wm. Otter, Karaka
Folio
Consent	Sarah Ross, mother
Date of Certificate	21 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Lush

685

26 March 1877

Alfred George Smith
Margaret Buchanan
formerly Hinley nee Dolly

Alfred George Smith
Margaret Peckham
💍 1877/216

Bachelor
Widow

Sawyer
Domestic

36 years
36 years

Thames
Thames

10 years
1 year

In the dwelling house occupied by William Ashby, Augusta St. Thames

26 March 1877

Rev. R. S. Bunn

No	685
Date of Notice	26 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Smith	Margaret Buchanan formerly Hinley nee Dolly
BDM Match (82%)	Alfred George Smith	Margaret Peckham
	💍 1877/216
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sawyer	Domestic
Age	36 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the dwelling house occupied by William Ashby, Augusta St. Thames
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. Bunn

686

27 March 1877

William Paul
Virginia Le Jury

William Paul
Virginie Lefney
💍 1877/1401

Bachelor
Spinster

Millman
Domestic

21 years
20 years

Thames
Waitangiuna

8 years
10 months

St Francis Roman Catholic Church Thames

77/1351

S. Chastagnon

No	686
Date of Notice	27 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Paul	Virginia Le Jury
BDM Match (84%)	William Paul	Virginie Lefney
	💍 1877/1401
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millman	Domestic
Age	21 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Waitangiuna
Length of Residence	8 years	10 months
Marriage Place	St Francis Roman Catholic Church Thames
Folio	77/1351
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	S. Chastagnon

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 1903. 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).