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 977

District of THAMES Quarter ending 31 December 1884

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

22 October 1884

William Smyth Wylie
Annie Sophia Driver

William Smyth Wylie
Annie Sophia Driver
💍 1884/1644

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Dressmaker

26 years
18 years

Pollen St.
Pollen St. Thames

3 years
16 years

Dwelling house of Mr. Henry Driver, Pollen St. Thames

84/3559

Henry Driver, father of minor

22 October 1884

Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist Minister

No	55
Date of Notice	22 October 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Smyth Wylie	Annie Sophia Driver
	💍 1884/1644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Dressmaker
Age	26 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Pollen St.	Pollen St. Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Henry Driver, Pollen St. Thames
Folio	84/3559
Consent	Henry Driver, father of minor
Date of Certificate	22 October 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist Minister

3 November 1884

Henry James Smith
Harriet Rollon

Henry James Smith
Harriet Rolton
💍 1884/3783

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipwright
None

28 years
23 years

Sealey St.
Sealey St.

4 years
13 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

84/3002

5 November 1884

S. de Courcy Patterson, Registrar

No	56
Date of Notice	3 November 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Smith	Harriet Rollon
BDM Match (96%)	Henry James Smith	Harriet Rolton
	💍 1884/3783
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipwright	None
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Sealey St.	Sealey St.
Length of Residence	4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	84/3002
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1884
Officiating Minister	S. de Courcy Patterson, Registrar

3 November 1884

Robert Barlow Hudson
Annie Hill Steedman

Robert Barlow Hudson
Annie Hill Steedman
💍 1884/1463

Bachelor
Spinster

Setter
None

23 years
21 years

Parawai
Pararu

6 years
14 years

Dwelling house of Mr. Steedman

84/2993

3 November 1884

Rev. J. J. Reill, Presbyterian Minister

No	57
Date of Notice	3 November 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Barlow Hudson	Annie Hill Steedman
	💍 1884/1463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Setter	None
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Parawai	Pararu
Length of Residence	6 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Steedman
Folio	84/2993
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Reill, Presbyterian Minister

5 November 1884

James Hugh Ready
Eva Eliza Morgan

James Hugh Peady
Eva Eliza Morgan
💍 1884/1469

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
None

26 years
18 years

Owen St.
Pollen St. Thames

7 years
15 years

Dwelling house of Mr. Morgan, Pollen St. Thames

84/2999

5 November 1884

Rev. C. E. Barley, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	58
Date of Notice	5 November 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hugh Ready	Eva Eliza Morgan
BDM Match (97%)	James Hugh Peady	Eva Eliza Morgan
	💍 1884/1469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	None
Age	26 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Owen St.	Pollen St. Thames
Length of Residence	7 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Morgan, Pollen St. Thames
Folio	84/2999
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Barley, Primitive Methodist Minister

5 November 1884

Henry Gallagher
Wilhelmine Nicolai

Henry Gallagher
Willhelmina Nicolai
💍 1884/1458

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
None

24 years
18 years

Mackay St.
Mackay St. Thames

4 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis, Thames

84/2988

Robert Nicolai, father of minor

5 November 1884

Rev. Patrick Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	59
Date of Notice	5 November 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gallagher	Wilhelmine Nicolai
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Gallagher	Willhelmina Nicolai
	💍 1884/1458
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	None
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Mackay St.	Mackay St. Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis, Thames
Folio	84/2988
Consent	Robert Nicolai, father of minor
Date of Certificate	5 November 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).