Intentions to Marry, 1885

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840397, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 1218

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1885 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

2 October 1885

Joseph Richard Kneebone
Mary White

Joseph Richard Kneebone
Mary White
💍 1885/2872

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

18 years
21 years

Thames
Thames

17 years
12 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

85/3036

Thomas Kneebone, father of minor.

2 October 1885

A de Courcy Potterton, Registrar

No	45
Date of Notice	2 October 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Richard Kneebone	Mary White
	💍 1885/2872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	18 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	17 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	85/3036
Consent	Thomas Kneebone, father of minor.
Date of Certificate	2 October 1885
Officiating Minister	A de Courcy Potterton, Registrar

5 October 1885

Philip Sparnon
Ellen Jane Schofield

Philip Sparrow
Ellen Jane Schofield
💍 1885/3602

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
None

24 years
19 years

Auckland
Thames

6 days at Thames
17 years

St. George's Church, Thames

85/3741

Richard Edmund Schofield, father of minor.

5 October 1885

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

No	46
Date of Notice	5 October 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Sparnon	Ellen Jane Schofield
BDM Match (93%)	Philip Sparrow	Ellen Jane Schofield
	💍 1885/3602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	None
Age	24 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Thames
Length of Residence	6 days at Thames	17 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	85/3741
Consent	Richard Edmund Schofield, father of minor.
Date of Certificate	5 October 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England Minister

9 October 1885

John Bennetts Hicks
Margaret McConnell

John Bennetts Hicks
Margaret McConnell
💍 1885/2874

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

34 years
23 years

Augustus St.
Terrace St.

15 years
13 years

Dwelling house of Mr. William McConnell

85/3038

9 October 1885

Rev. S. J. Neill, Presbyterian Minister

No	47
Date of Notice	9 October 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bennetts Hicks	Margaret McConnell
	💍 1885/2874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	34 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Augustus St.	Terrace St.
Length of Residence	15 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. William McConnell
Folio	85/3038
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Neill, Presbyterian Minister

23 October 1885

Thomas Hosking
Mary Ann Geoghegan

Thomas Hosking
Mary Anne Geoghegan
💍 1885/2869

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic

33 years
23 years

Owen St.
Owen St.

7 years
12 months

Roman Catholic Church of St. Bridget, Thames

85/3033

23 October 1885

Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	48
Date of Notice	23 October 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hosking	Mary Ann Geoghegan
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Hosking	Mary Anne Geoghegan
	💍 1885/2869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic
Age	33 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Owen St.	Owen St.
Length of Residence	7 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St. Bridget, Thames
Folio	85/3033
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

20 November 1885

James Jones
Sarah Winifred McMenamin

James Jones
Sarah Winifred McMenamin
💍 1885/2870

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

23 years
22 years

Eureka Hill
Bird in Laurel Hill

15 years
15 years

St. Francis' Church, Thames

85/3034

20 November 1885

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	49
Date of Notice	20 November 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Jones	Sarah Winifred McMenamin
	💍 1885/2870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	23 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Eureka Hill	Bird in Laurel Hill
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis' Church, Thames
Folio	85/3034
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. 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).