Intentions to Marry, 1881

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840393, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

Page 238

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1881 Registrar A de Courcy Patterton

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

905

16 February 1881

Charles Pyne
Marion Elizabeth Naylor
formerly Crocker

Charles Pyne
Marion Elizabeth Naylor
💍 1881/293

Bachelor
Widow

Butcher
None

40 years
42 years

Owen St
Owen St

12 years
12 years

Dwelling house of Mr Pyne, Owen St Thames

81/178

16 February 1881

Rev. T L. Davies Baptist Minister

No	905
Date of Notice	16 February 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Pyne	Marion Elizabeth Naylor formerly Crocker
	💍 1881/293
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Butcher	None
Age	40 years	42 years
Dwelling Place	Owen St	Owen St
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Pyne, Owen St Thames
Folio	81/178
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. T L. Davies Baptist Minister

906

18 February 1881

William Billing
Charlotte Grainger

William Billing
Charlotte Grainger
💍 1881/214

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Semptress

40 years
30 years

Totara Point
Kauaeranga Valley

5 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Mary St Thames

81/115

18 February 1881

A de Courcy Patterton, Registrar of Marriages

No	906
Date of Notice	18 February 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Billing	Charlotte Grainger
	💍 1881/214
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Semptress
Age	40 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Totara Point	Kauaeranga Valley
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Mary St Thames
Folio	81/115
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1881
Officiating Minister	A de Courcy Patterton, Registrar of Marriages

907

26 February 1881

Michael Jamieson
Mary Ann Ryan

Michael Jamieson
Mary Ann Ryan
💍 1881/218

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
None

23 years
19 years

Waitangirua
Waitangirua

6 months
2 years

Roman Catholic Church of St Francis Thames

81/119

Sarah Ryan, mother of minor

26 February 1881

Rev. P. O'Reilly Roman Catholic Minister

No	907
Date of Notice	26 February 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Jamieson	Mary Ann Ryan
	💍 1881/218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	None
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Waitangirua	Waitangirua
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St Francis Thames
Folio	81/119
Consent	Sarah Ryan, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	26 February 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly Roman Catholic Minister

908

28 February 1881

John Carter
Louisa Joslin

John Thomas Carter
Louisa Jane Joslin
💍 1881/222

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

21 years
21 years

Hape Creek
Parawai

10 years
10 years

St George's Church Thames

81/122

28 February 1881

Rev. V. Lush Church of England Minister

No	908
Date of Notice	28 February 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Carter	Louisa Joslin
BDM Match (67%)	John Thomas Carter	Louisa Jane Joslin
	💍 1881/222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	21 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Hape Creek	Parawai
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church Thames
Folio	81/122
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. Lush Church of England Minister

909

5 March 1881

Thomas Webb
Amelia Flynn
formerly McNally

Thomas Webb
Amelia Flynn
💍 1881/215

Bachelor
Widow

Bushman
None

37 years
36 years

Kauaeranga Valley
Kauaeranga Valley

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Thames

81/116

5 March 1881

A de Courcy Patterton, Registrar of Marriages

No	909
Date of Notice	5 March 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Webb	Amelia Flynn formerly McNally
	💍 1881/215
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bushman	None
Age	37 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Kauaeranga Valley	Kauaeranga Valley
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Thames
Folio	81/116
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1881
Officiating Minister	A de Courcy Patterton, Registrar of Marriages

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).