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 984

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 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

17 May 1884

William Holmes
Annie Elizabeth Curtis

William Holmes
Annie Elizabeth Curtis
💍 1884/859

Widower
Spinster

Engineer
none

30 years
19 years

Mackay St
Parawai

4 years
10 years

Dwelling house of Mr Curtis, Thames

84/1034

Henry William Curtis, father of minor

17 May 1884

Rev. C. E. Barry, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	30
Date of Notice	17 May 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Holmes	Annie Elizabeth Curtis
	💍 1884/859
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	none
Age	30 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Mackay St	Parawai
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Curtis, Thames
Folio	84/1034
Consent	Henry William Curtis, father of minor
Date of Certificate	17 May 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Barry, Primitive Methodist Minister

21 May 1884

James Cavanagh otherwise James Carter
Mary Ann Ardern

James Carter
Mary Ann Ardern
💍 1884/849

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
none

21 years
18 years

Amy St
Terrace St

4 years
1 year

Dwelling house of Mr Ardern, Terrace St, Thames

84/1051

Mary Ardern, mother of minor

23 May 1884

Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist Minister

No	31
Date of Notice	21 May 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cavanagh otherwise James Carter	Mary Ann Ardern
BDM Match (66%)	James Carter	Mary Ann Ardern
	💍 1884/849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	none
Age	21 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Amy St	Terrace St
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Ardern, Terrace St, Thames
Folio	84/1051
Consent	Mary Ardern, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	23 May 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist Minister

22 May 1884

John Stewart
Alice Ann Day

John Stewart
Alice Ann Way
💍 1884/850

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

22 years
22 years

Paeroa
Paeroa

1 month
1 year

Dwelling house of John Stewart, Paeroa

84/1052

22 May 1884

Rev. D. Ferguson, Presbyterian Minister

No	32
Date of Notice	22 May 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stewart	Alice Ann Day
BDM Match (96%)	John Stewart	Alice Ann Way
	💍 1884/850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Paeroa
Length of Residence	1 month	1 year
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of John Stewart, Paeroa
Folio	84/1052
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Ferguson, Presbyterian Minister

2 June 1884

Ah. Mow (Chinaman)
Mary Ann Simpson

Bachelor
Widow

Trader
Missioner

40 years
41 years

Queen St Auckland
Ponsonby St Auckland

18 years
15 years

Dwelling house of Ah. Mow, Auckland

2 June 1884

Rev. R. J. Dreanicol, Presbyterian Minister

No	33
Date of Notice	2 June 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ah. Mow (Chinaman)	Mary Ann Simpson
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Trader	Missioner
Age	40 years	41 years
Dwelling Place	Queen St Auckland	Ponsonby St Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Ah. Mow, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Dreanicol, Presbyterian Minister

16 June 1884

Edward Walters
Jane Irving

Edward Walters
Jane Irving
💍 1884/846

Bachelor
Spinster

Bussman
none

23 years
21 years

Keri Keri
Keri Keri

4 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

84/1048

16 June 1884

A. de Courcy Potterton, Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	16 June 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Walters	Jane Irving
	💍 1884/846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bussman	none
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Keri Keri	Keri Keri
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	84/1048
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1884
Officiating Minister	A. de Courcy Potterton, Registrar

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).