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 976

District of THAMES Quarter ending 31 December 1884 Registrar Alexander de Courcy Pemberton

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

19 November 1884

Joel Fisher
Mary Ellen Vedder

Joel Fisher
Mary Ellen Veddes
💍 1884/1467

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
None

20 years
19 years

Tararu
Brown St

14 years
14 years

St. George's Church

84/1299

Amos Fisher and Jacob Vedder, fathers of the minors

19 November 1884

Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England Minister

No	60
Date of Notice	19 November 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joel Fisher	Mary Ellen Vedder
BDM Match (97%)	Joel Fisher	Mary Ellen Veddes
	💍 1884/1467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	None
Age	20 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Tararu	Brown St
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church
Folio	84/1299
Consent	Amos Fisher and Jacob Vedder, fathers of the minors
Date of Certificate	19 November 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England Minister

20 November 1884

John Hinchy
Margaret Healy

John Ainsley Mahoney
Margaret Healy
💍 1884/1459

Widower
Spinster

Publican
None

55 years
45 years

Paeroa
Paeroa

16 years
15 years

Dwelling house of Mr. Mahony

84/12989

20 November 1884

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	61
Date of Notice	20 November 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hinchy	Margaret Healy
BDM Match (73%)	John Ainsley Mahoney	Margaret Healy
	💍 1884/1459
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Publican	None
Age	55 years	45 years
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Paeroa
Length of Residence	16 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Mahony
Folio	84/12989
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

4 December 1884

John Dagstaffe
Mary Veress

John Wagstaffe Brame
Mary Vercoe
💍 1884/1465

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Dressmaker

27 years
21 years

Walters St.
Hill St.

6 months
9 years

Dwelling house of Mr. William Vereol

84/12994

4 December 1884

Rev. Henry Bull, Wesleyan Minister

No	62
Date of Notice	4 December 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dagstaffe	Mary Veress
BDM Match (69%)	John Wagstaffe Brame	Mary Vercoe
	💍 1884/1465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Dressmaker
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Walters St.	Hill St.
Length of Residence	6 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. William Vereol
Folio	84/12994
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Bull, Wesleyan Minister

13 December 1884

Thomas Corbett
Mary Keohane

Thomas Corbett
Mary Keohane
💍 1884/1460

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel-Keeper
None

39 years
24 years

Mary St.
Hikutaia

10 years
5 years

St. Francis' Church

84/12990

13 December 1884

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	63
Date of Notice	13 December 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Corbett	Mary Keohane
	💍 1884/1460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel-Keeper	None
Age	39 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Mary St.	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis' Church
Folio	84/12990
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

22 December 1884

William Stephen Trayes
Sarah Jane Dunstan

William Stephen Trayes
Sarah Jane Dunstan
💍 1884/3793

Bachelor
Spinster

Stonemason
Dressmaker

22 years
21 years

Devonport Auckland
Moanataiari

3 days
11 years

Dwelling house at Thames of Mr. Dunstan

84/3000

22 December 1884

Rev. C. F. Barley, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	64
Date of Notice	22 December 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stephen Trayes	Sarah Jane Dunstan
	💍 1884/3793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stonemason	Dressmaker
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Devonport Auckland	Moanataiari
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house at Thames of Mr. Dunstan
Folio	84/3000
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Barley, Primitive Methodist 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).