Intentions to Marry, 1884

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840396, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 990

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1884 Registrar Alexander 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

2 January 1884

John Geddes Robertson
Annie Johnson

John Geddes Robertson
Annie Johnson
💍 1884/149

Bachelor
Spinster

Stonemason
None

35 years
21 years

Thames
Thames

3 days
7 years

Registrar's Office Thames

84/167

2 January 1884

E. Honiss Deputy Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Geddes Robertson	Annie Johnson
	💍 1884/149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stonemason	None
Age	35 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Thames
Folio	84/167
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1884
Officiating Minister	E. Honiss Deputy Registrar

14 January 1884

John Farrell
Mary Hogan
formerly Bennett

John Farrell
Mary Hogan
💍 1884/3714

Widower
Widow

Miner
Publican

44 years
42 years

Irishtown
Tararu

14 years
14 years

Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis Thames

84/173

14 January 1884

Rev. Patrick O'Reilly Roman Catholic Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	14 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Farrell	Mary Hogan formerly Bennett
	💍 1884/3714
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Miner	Publican
Age	44 years	42 years
Dwelling Place	Irishtown	Tararu
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis Thames
Folio	84/173
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Reilly Roman Catholic Minister

15 January 1884

David Littlejohn
Kate Fiddes

David Littlejohn
Kate Fiddes
💍 1884/146

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
None

26 years
29 years

Paeroa Ohinemuri
Paeroa Ohinemuri

1 month
1 month

Dwelling house of Rev. S. J. Neill Rolleston St. Thames

84/164

15 January 1884

Rev. S. J. Neill Presbyterian Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	15 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Littlejohn	Kate Fiddes
	💍 1884/146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	None
Age	26 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Paeroa Ohinemuri	Paeroa Ohinemuri
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Rev. S. J. Neill Rolleston St. Thames
Folio	84/164
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Neill Presbyterian Minister

21 January 1884

Henry Cameron Gillespie
Maria Cleave

Henry Cameron Gillespie
Maria Cleave
💍 1884/97

Widower
Spinster

Shipping Agent
None

48 years
24 years

Parawai Thames
Onehunga Auckland

3 years

Dwelling house of Captain Parnell, Onehunga, Auckland, N.Z.

84/137

21 January 1884

Rev. Henry R. Dewsbury Wesleyan Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	21 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Cameron Gillespie	Maria Cleave
	💍 1884/97
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Agent	None
Age	48 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Parawai Thames	Onehunga Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Captain Parnell, Onehunga, Auckland, N.Z.
Folio	84/137
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry R. Dewsbury Wesleyan Minister

22 January 1884

Michael Browne
Mary Ann Hughena McDonald

Michael Browne
Mary Ann Hughena McDonald
💍 1884/156

Bachelor
Spinster

Produce Merchant
None

46 years
27 years

Albert St. Thames
Pollen St. Thames

15 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis Thames

84/174

22 January 1884

Rev. Patrick O'Reilly Roman Catholic Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	22 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Browne	Mary Ann Hughena McDonald
	💍 1884/156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Produce Merchant	None
Age	46 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Albert St. Thames	Pollen St. Thames
Length of Residence	15 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis Thames
Folio	84/174
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick 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).

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).