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 213

District of Thames Quarter ending Jul - Sep

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

870

6 August 1880

Charles John Searle
Alice Grey Nicholls

Charles John Dearle
Alice Grey Nicholls
💍 1880/2231

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
No profession

31
25

Pollon St. Thames
Paeroa. Thames

14 days
28 years

At the residence of Mr. Haynes Thames Baillie St.

80/1639

6 August 1880

Rev. J.S. Davies Baptist Minister

No	870
Date of Notice	6 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Searle	Alice Grey Nicholls
BDM Match (97%)	Charles John Dearle	Alice Grey Nicholls
	💍 1880/2231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	No profession
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Pollon St. Thames	Paeroa. Thames
Length of Residence	14 days	28 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. Haynes Thames Baillie St.
Folio	80/1639
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.S. Davies Baptist Minister

871

19 August 1880

Thomas Healey
Rachel Wardley

Thomas Healey
Rachel Wardley
💍 1880/2234

Bachelor
Spinster

Gum-Grover
None

32
19

Mary St. Thames
Mary St. Thames

12 years
4 months

In dwelling house of Mr. Alexander Forman

80/1642

by person in having authority to give consent

19 August 1880

Rev. W.J. Watkin Wesleyan Minister

No	871
Date of Notice	19 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Healey	Rachel Wardley
	💍 1880/2234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gum-Grover	None
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Mary St. Thames	Mary St. Thames
Length of Residence	12 years	4 months
Marriage Place	In dwelling house of Mr. Alexander Forman
Folio	80/1642
Consent	by person in having authority to give consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.J. Watkin Wesleyan Minister

872

24 August 1880

Frederick James Porter
Lydia Ann Nardella

Fredk Jas Porter
Lydia Anne Wardley
💍 1880/2233

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

22
21

Keddles St. Thames
Owen St. Thames

18 months
4 months

In dwelling house of Mr. Alexander Forman Keddles St.

80/1641

24 August 1880

Rev. W.J. Watkin Wesleyan Minister

No	872
Date of Notice	24 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Porter	Lydia Ann Nardella
BDM Match (72%)	Fredk Jas Porter	Lydia Anne Wardley
	💍 1880/2233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Keddles St. Thames	Owen St. Thames
Length of Residence	18 months	4 months
Marriage Place	In dwelling house of Mr. Alexander Forman Keddles St.
Folio	80/1641
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.J. Watkin Wesleyan Minister

873

25 August 1880

Richard Johnston
Louisa Waite

Richard Johnstone
Louisa Waite
💍 1880/2232

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

25
19

Karaka. Thames
Black Road. Thames

10 years
10 years

In the Protestant Church Armed Constabulary George St. Thames

80/1640

true [UNCLEAR] Want - - of minor

25 August 1880

Rev. N. Lush

No	873
Date of Notice	25 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Johnston	Louisa Waite
BDM Match (97%)	Richard Johnstone	Louisa Waite
	💍 1880/2232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Karaka. Thames	Black Road. Thames
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Protestant Church Armed Constabulary George St. Thames
Folio	80/1640
Consent	true [UNCLEAR] Want - - of minor
Date of Certificate	25 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. Lush

874

31 August 1880

George Smeatons Clark
Margaret Jane Armstrong McLellan Patterson

George Smeaton Clark
Margaret Jane Armstrong McCalla Patterson
💍 1880/2210

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

31
22

Hairetau. Thames
Owen St. Thames

12 years
12 years

In dwelling house of Mr. James Patterson Thames

80/1643

31 August 1880

Rev. R. Laishley Congregational Minister

No	874
Date of Notice	31 August 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Smeatons Clark	Margaret Jane Armstrong McLellan Patterson
BDM Match (94%)	George Smeaton Clark	Margaret Jane Armstrong McCalla Patterson
	💍 1880/2210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Hairetau. Thames	Owen St. Thames
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In dwelling house of Mr. James Patterson Thames
Folio	80/1643
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Laishley Congregational 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).