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 214

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar A de Courcy 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

1030

18 January 1883

William Rolton
Mary Ann Henfling

William Rolton
Mary Ann Henfling
💍 1883/175

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
None

28 years
24 years

Pollen St.
Waipipi, Totara

14 years
8 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

83/141

22 January 1883

A de Courcy Potterton, Registrar of Marriages

No	1030
Date of Notice	18 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rolton	Mary Ann Henfling
	💍 1883/175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	None
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Pollen St.	Waipipi, Totara
Length of Residence	14 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	83/141
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1883
Officiating Minister	A de Courcy Potterton, Registrar of Marriages

1031

16 February 1883

James Edward Hardman
Elizabeth Daykin

James Edward Hardman
Elizabeth Daykin
💍 1883/1982

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

19 years
16 years

Franklin St.
Parawai

11 years
14 years

St. George's Church, Thames

83/1859

James Hardman, father, and Bridget Daykin, father & mother of respective minors.

16 February 1883

Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

No	1031
Date of Notice	16 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Hardman	Elizabeth Daykin
	💍 1883/1982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	19 years	16 years
Dwelling Place	Franklin St.	Parawai
Length of Residence	11 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	83/1859
Consent	James Hardman, father, and Bridget Daykin, father & mother of respective minors.
Date of Certificate	16 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

1032

19 February 1883

Robert Andrew
Emmeline Tregoweth

Robert Andrew
Emmeline Tregoweth
💍 1883/181

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

23 years
21 years

Hill St.
Tararu Road

12 years
12 years

Dwelling house of Mr. Thomas Robinson, Tararu Road.

83/146

19 February 1883

Rev. Henry Bull, Wesleyan Minister

No	1032
Date of Notice	19 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Andrew	Emmeline Tregoweth
	💍 1883/181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Hill St.	Tararu Road
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Thomas Robinson, Tararu Road.
Folio	83/146
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Bull, Wesleyan Minister

1033

21 February 1883

Hugh Davies
Margaret Jones
formerly Thomas

Hugh Davies
Margaret Jones
💍 1883/176

Widower
Widow

Dairyman
None

24 years
33 years

Parawai
Sandes St.

15 years
12 months

Registrar's Office Thames

83/142

21 February 1883

A de Courcy Potterton, Registrar of Marriages

No	1033
Date of Notice	21 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Davies	Margaret Jones formerly Thomas
	💍 1883/176
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Dairyman	None
Age	24 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Parawai	Sandes St.
Length of Residence	15 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Thames
Folio	83/142
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1883
Officiating Minister	A de Courcy Potterton, Registrar of Marriages

1034

22 February 1883

Thomas Bennett
Mary Jane McPike

Thomas Bennett
Mary Jane McPike
💍 1883/1984

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Servant

21 years
21 years

Parawai
Parawai

12 years
6 years

St. George's Church Thames

83/1860

22 February 1883

Rev. Wm. Calder, Church of England Minister

No	1034
Date of Notice	22 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bennett	Mary Jane McPike
	💍 1883/1984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Servant
Age	21 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Parawai	Parawai
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church Thames
Folio	83/1860
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. 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).

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).