Intentions to Marry, 1880

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840392, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 209

District of Thames Quarter ending Jan - Mar

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

851

3 January 1880

George French
Catherine Sims Richards

George French
Cutherine Sims Richards
💍 1880/3022

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
none

24 years
21 years

Thames
Thames

3 days
9 years

In dwelling house of Mrs Richards Upper Albert Street

851/101

3rd January 1880

Rev. H. J. Watkin Wesleyan minister

No	851
Date of Notice	3 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George French	Catherine Sims Richards
BDM Match (98%)	George French	Cutherine Sims Richards
	💍 1880/3022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	none
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	In dwelling house of Mrs Richards Upper Albert Street
Folio	851/101
Consent
Date of Certificate	3rd January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Watkin Wesleyan minister

852

17 January 1880

Patrick Sheehy
Mary Ann Duffy

Patrick Sheehy
Mary Ann Duffy
💍 1880/3023

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
none

40 years
38 years

Paeroa Ohinemuri
Paeroa Ohinemuri

4 years
8 weeks

Roman Catholic Church of St Francis, Willoughby St Thames

80/102

17 January 1880

Rev. Patrick O'Reilly Roman Catholic Priest

No	852
Date of Notice	17 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Sheehy	Mary Ann Duffy
	💍 1880/3023
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	none
Age	40 years	38 years
Dwelling Place	Paeroa Ohinemuri	Paeroa Ohinemuri
Length of Residence	4 years	8 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St Francis, Willoughby St Thames
Folio	80/102
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Reilly Roman Catholic Priest

853

26 January 1880

Walter Ratcliff
Sarah Jane Berrighty

Walter Ratcliffe
Sarah Jane Gerrighty
💍 1880/3024

Bachelor
Spinster

Musician
none

26 years
21 years

Pollen St Thames
Pollen St Thames

10 years
9 years

In dwelling house of Mrs Ratcliff Shortland Thames

853/103

26 January 1880

Rev. J. S. Neill Presbyterian minister

No	853
Date of Notice	26 January 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Ratcliff	Sarah Jane Berrighty
BDM Match (94%)	Walter Ratcliffe	Sarah Jane Gerrighty
	💍 1880/3024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musician	none
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Pollen St Thames	Pollen St Thames
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	In dwelling house of Mrs Ratcliff Shortland Thames
Folio	853/103
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Neill Presbyterian minister

854

2 February 1880

Robert William Gare
Julia Fenley

Owen William Gage
Julia Fenley
💍 1880/3106

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
none

29 years
24 years

Pollen St Thames
Pollen St Thames

2 years
15 years

Protestant Episcopal Church of St George Mary St Thames

854/106

2nd February 1880

Rev. V. Lush Church of England minister

No	854
Date of Notice	2 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Gare	Julia Fenley
BDM Match (84%)	Owen William Gage	Julia Fenley
	💍 1880/3106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	none
Age	29 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Pollen St Thames	Pollen St Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Protestant Episcopal Church of St George Mary St Thames
Folio	854/106
Consent
Date of Certificate	2nd February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. Lush Church of England minister

855

10 February 1880

Henry Love
Eliza Sparshott

Henry Cawe
Eliza Sparshott
💍 1880/3025

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Shop Assistant

43 years
30 years

Willoughby St.
Pollen St.

10 years
3 years

In dwelling house of Mrs Rae Premises

855/104

10th February 1880

Rev. J. S. Neill Presbyterian minister

No	855
Date of Notice	10 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Love	Eliza Sparshott
BDM Match (85%)	Henry Cawe	Eliza Sparshott
	💍 1880/3025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Shop Assistant
Age	43 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Willoughby St.	Pollen St.
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In dwelling house of Mrs Rae Premises
Folio	855/104
Consent
Date of Certificate	10th February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Neill Presbyterian minister

856

10 February 1880

Joseph James Macy
Kate Spencer

Joseph James Macky
Kate Spencer
💍 1880/3117

Widower
Spinster

Merchant
none

32 years
22 years

Eyre St Thames
Parawai

4 days
10 years

In Protestant Episcopal Church of St George Thames.

856/105

10th February 1880

Rev. V. Lush Church of England minister

No	856
Date of Notice	10 February 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph James Macy	Kate Spencer
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph James Macky	Kate Spencer
	💍 1880/3117
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	none
Age	32 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Eyre St Thames	Parawai
Length of Residence	4 days	10 years
Marriage Place	In Protestant Episcopal Church of St George Thames.
Folio	856/105
Consent
Date of Certificate	10th February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. Lush Church of England minister

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

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).