Intentions to Marry, 1878

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840390, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, March 5 2025

Page 233

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1878

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

791

1 October 1878

James Neury
Emily Moore

James Henry Ellis
Emily Moore
💍 1878/2479

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
No profession

36 years
21 years

Waiotahi
Thames

7 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

78/2518

1 October 1878

Alexander de Courcy Potterton, Deputy Registrar

No	791
Date of Notice	1 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Neury	Emily Moore
BDM Match (76%)	James Henry Ellis	Emily Moore
	💍 1878/2479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	No profession
Age	36 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Waiotahi	Thames
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	78/2518
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Alexander de Courcy Potterton, Deputy Registrar

792

8 October 1878

James Gilpin
Eliza Cook

James Gilpin
Eliza Cook
💍 1878/2490

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

32 years
20 years

Waiotahi
Thames

10 years
4 years

Dwelling house of Mr. Gilpin, situate in Mary St, Thames

78/2523

No person resident in Colony having authority to give consent

8 October 1878

Rev. J. Hill, Presbyterian Minister

No	792
Date of Notice	8 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gilpin	Eliza Cook
	💍 1878/2490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	32 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Waiotahi	Thames
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Gilpin, situate in Mary St, Thames
Folio	78/2523
Consent	No person resident in Colony having authority to give consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hill, Presbyterian Minister

793

14 October 1878

Alexander Mennie
Mary Hamilton

Alexander Minnie
Mary Hamilton
💍 1878/3364

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
No profession

32 years
23 years

Thames
Thames

9 years
9 years

Dwelling house of Mr. Hamilton, Waiotahi

78/2522

14 October 1878

Rev. J. Hill, Presbyterian Minister

No	793
Date of Notice	14 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Mennie	Mary Hamilton
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Minnie	Mary Hamilton
	💍 1878/3364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	No profession
Age	32 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Hamilton, Waiotahi
Folio	78/2522
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hill, Presbyterian Minister

794

19 October 1878

Charles Williams
Elizabeth Jane Fregize

Francis Williams
Elizabeth Jane Heath
💍 1878/2713

Charles Williams
Sophia Elizabeth Baggott
💍 1878/1640

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

29 years
20 years

Pararu Road, Thames
Waiotahi

4 years
4 years

Dwelling house of Mr. Fregize, the Bride's father, Waiotahi

78/2514

Henry Fregize, Bride's Father

19 October 1878

Rev. R. S. Bunn, Wesleyan Minister

No	794
Date of Notice	19 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Williams	Elizabeth Jane Fregize
BDM Match (71%)	Francis Williams	Elizabeth Jane Heath
	💍 1878/2713
BDM Match (65%)	Charles Williams	Sophia Elizabeth Baggott
	💍 1878/1640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	29 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Pararu Road, Thames	Waiotahi
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Fregize, the Bride's father, Waiotahi
Folio	78/2514
Consent	Henry Fregize, Bride's Father
Date of Certificate	19 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. Bunn, Wesleyan Minister

795

24 October 1878

William Hill
Sarah Jane Wilson

William Menzies
Mary Jane Wilson
💍 1878/928

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
No profession

30 years
30 years

Waitangirua
Waitangirua

5 years
2 years

Dwelling house of William Hill, Waitangirua, Thames

78/2524

24 October 1878

Rev. John Nixon, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	795
Date of Notice	24 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hill	Sarah Jane Wilson
BDM Match (71%)	William Menzies	Mary Jane Wilson
	💍 1878/928
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	No profession
Age	30 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Waitangirua	Waitangirua
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of William Hill, Waitangirua, Thames
Folio	78/2524
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Nixon, Primitive Methodist Minister

796

28 October 1878

Francis McIsaac
Charlotte Copland

Francis McIsaac
Charlotte Copland
💍 1878/2471

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
No profession

28 years
18 years

Thames
Thames

1 month
4 years

St. Francis' Roman Catholic Church in Willoughby St.

78/2516

James Copland, Father to Bride

28 October 1878

Rev. Father O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Priest

No	796
Date of Notice	28 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis McIsaac	Charlotte Copland
	💍 1878/2471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	No profession
Age	28 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 month	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis' Roman Catholic Church in Willoughby St.
Folio	78/2516
Consent	James Copland, Father to Bride
Date of Certificate	28 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Priest

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).