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 241

District of [illegible] Quarter ending 30 June 1881

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

913

9 April 1881

Horatio Nelson
Jessy Howard

Horatio Nelson Bagnall
Jessy Steward
💍 1881/886

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill proprietor
None

23 years
23 years

Purua, Thames
Parawai, Thames

12 years
12 years

St George's Church, Thames

81/844

9 April 1881

Rev. V. Lush

No	913
Date of Notice	9 April 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horatio Nelson	Jessy Howard
BDM Match (70%)	Horatio Nelson Bagnall	Jessy Steward
	💍 1881/886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill proprietor	None
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Purua, Thames	Parawai, Thames
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Thames
Folio	81/844
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. Lush

914

13 April 1881

Charles Bunting
Susan Dance

Charles Bunting
Susan Dance
💍 1881/887

Bachelor
Spinster

General labourer
None

24 years
17 years

Waitekauri, Ohinemuri
Waitekauri, Ohinemuri

13 months
5 years

St George's Church, Thames

81/845

Alice Dance, Mother

13 April 1881

Rev. V. Lush, Church of England Minister

No	914
Date of Notice	13 April 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bunting	Susan Dance
	💍 1881/887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	General labourer	None
Age	24 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Waitekauri, Ohinemuri	Waitekauri, Ohinemuri
Length of Residence	13 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Thames
Folio	81/845
Consent	Alice Dance, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 April 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. Lush, Church of England Minister

915

14 April 1881

Thomas Jennings Adgers
Mary George

Thomas Jennings Odgers
Mary George
💍 1881/880

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

27 years
21 years

Pollen St
Pollen St

10 months
8 years

Dwelling house of Mr Adgers, Pollen St

81/838

14 April 1881

Rev. W. J. Watkin, Wesleyan Minister

No	915
Date of Notice	14 April 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Jennings Adgers	Mary George
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Jennings Odgers	Mary George
	💍 1881/880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Pollen St	Pollen St
Length of Residence	10 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Adgers, Pollen St
Folio	81/838
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Watkin, Wesleyan Minister

916

18 April 1881

Herbert Mason
Agnes Phillips

Herbert Mason
Agnes Phillips
💍 1881/1451

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Dressmaker

24 years
22 years

Burleigh St, Auckland
Mackay St, Thames

usual
12 years

Baptist Church, Willoughby St, Thames

81/842

18 April 1881

Rev. T. L. Davies, Baptist Minister

No	916
Date of Notice	18 April 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Mason	Agnes Phillips
	💍 1881/1451
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Dressmaker
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Burleigh St, Auckland	Mackay St, Thames
Length of Residence	usual	12 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Willoughby St, Thames
Folio	81/842
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. L. Davies, Baptist Minister

917

19 April 1881

Daniel Noonan
Louisa Markwick

Daniel Cloonan
Louisa Markwick
💍 1881/900

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
None

31 years
22 years

Owen St, Thames
Beach Road, Thames

11 years
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Thames

81/834

19 April 1881

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	917
Date of Notice	19 April 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Noonan	Louisa Markwick
BDM Match (93%)	Daniel Cloonan	Louisa Markwick
	💍 1881/900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	None
Age	31 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Owen St, Thames	Beach Road, Thames
Length of Residence	11 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	81/834
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

918

26 April 1881

Arthur Irvine
Bridget Jane Nolan

Arthur Irvine
Jane Nolan
💍 1881/901

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
None

22 years
20 years

Thames
Tararu, Thames

3 days
8 days

Roman Catholic Church of St Francis, Thames

81/835

Martin Nolan, Father of minor

26 April 1881

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	918
Date of Notice	26 April 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Irvine	Bridget Jane Nolan
BDM Match (78%)	Arthur Irvine	Jane Nolan
	💍 1881/901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	None
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Tararu, Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St Francis, Thames
Folio	81/835
Consent	Martin Nolan, Father of minor
Date of Certificate	26 April 1881
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

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 1908. 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).