Intentions to Marry, 1883

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840395, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

Page 221

District of THAMES Quarter ending 30 September 1883 Registrar Alexander de fourcy Potterton

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

1055

4 July 1883

Thomas Alexander Erwin
Amil Fitzpatrick

Thomas Alexander Erwin
Annie Fitzpatrick
💍 1883/1777

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
None

23 years
23 years

Parawai
Parawai

2 years
15 years

Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis, Thames

83/1842

6 July 1883

Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	1055
Date of Notice	4 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alexander Erwin	Amil Fitzpatrick
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Alexander Erwin	Annie Fitzpatrick
	💍 1883/1777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	None
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Parawai	Parawai
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis, Thames
Folio	83/1842
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

1056

9 July 1883

William Daniel Godfrey
Maria Garner

William Daniel Godfary
Maria Garner
💍 1883/3365

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Dressmaker

25 years
17 years

Thames
Parawai

4 years
15 years

St. George's Church, Thames

83/3599

Garner, father of minor

9 July 1883

Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

No	1056
Date of Notice	9 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Daniel Godfrey	Maria Garner
BDM Match (95%)	William Daniel Godfary	Maria Garner
	💍 1883/3365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Dressmaker
Age	25 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Parawai
Length of Residence	4 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	83/3599
Consent	Garner, father of minor
Date of Certificate	9 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

1057

16 July 1883

Henry Dance
Mira Elizabeth Bunting

Henry Dance
Myra Elizabeth Bunting
💍 1883/3366

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

24 years
18 years

Waitekauri
Thames and Miranda

2 years
3 days

St. George's Church, Thames

83/3600

William Bunting, brother of minor, both parents deceased

16 July 1883

Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

No	1057
Date of Notice	16 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Dance	Mira Elizabeth Bunting
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Dance	Myra Elizabeth Bunting
	💍 1883/3366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Waitekauri	Thames and Miranda
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	83/3600
Consent	William Bunting, brother of minor, both parents deceased
Date of Certificate	16 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

1058

16 July 1883

Wesley Henry Thompson
Louisa Gulpitt

Wesley Thompson
Louisa Culpitt
💍 1883/3368

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
None

28 years
20 years

Parawai
Pollen St.

2 years
12 years

St. George's Church, Thames

83/3602

William Gulpitt, father of minor

17 July 1883

Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

No	1058
Date of Notice	16 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wesley Henry Thompson	Louisa Gulpitt
BDM Match (82%)	Wesley Thompson	Louisa Culpitt
	💍 1883/3368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	None
Age	28 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Parawai	Pollen St.
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	83/3602
Consent	William Gulpitt, father of minor
Date of Certificate	17 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

1059

19 July 1883

William Henry McDonnell
Catherine Harkin

William Henry McDonnell
Catherine Clarken
💍 1883/1778

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

29 years
23 years

Upper Albert St.
Upper Albert St.

4 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis, Thames

83/1843

19 July 1883

Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	1059
Date of Notice	19 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry McDonnell	Catherine Harkin
BDM Match (91%)	William Henry McDonnell	Catherine Clarken
	💍 1883/1778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	29 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Upper Albert St.	Upper Albert St.
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis, Thames
Folio	83/1843
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

1060

19 July 1883

Arthur William Taylor
Ann Devey

Arthur William Taylor
Ann Devey
💍 1883/3367

Bachelor
Spinster

Cordial Maker
None

25 years
21 years

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 days
3 days

St. George's Church, Thames

83/3601

19 July 1883

Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

No	1060
Date of Notice	19 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Taylor	Ann Devey
	💍 1883/3367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Maker	None
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	83/3601
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Calder, Church of England 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 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).