Intentions to Marry, 1886

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840398, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 075

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1886 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

16 January 1886

William Swinden
Mary Catherine Agnes Drake
formerly Brook

William Swinden
May Catherine Agnes Drake
💍 1886/353

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

44 years
34 years

Parawai
Parawai

14 years
6 years

Dwelling house of Mr Swinden

86/200

18 January 1886

Rev. S. R. Dooley Baptist Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	16 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Swinden	Mary Catherine Agnes Drake formerly Brook
BDM Match (98%)	William Swinden	May Catherine Agnes Drake
	💍 1886/353
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	44 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Parawai	Parawai
Length of Residence	14 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Swinden
Folio	86/200
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Dooley Baptist Minister

19 January 1886

George Rayner
Jane Mary Ann Hooton
formerly Pickford

George Rayner
Mary Jane Hooton
💍 1886/54

Widower
Widow

Surveyor
None

52 years
25 years

Richmond St
Richmond St

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Thames

86/197

19 January 1886

A. de C. Potterton Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rayner	Jane Mary Ann Hooton formerly Pickford
BDM Match (80%)	George Rayner	Mary Jane Hooton
	💍 1886/54
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Surveyor	None
Age	52 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Richmond St	Richmond St
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Thames
Folio	86/197
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1886
Officiating Minister	A. de C. Potterton Registrar

28 January 1886

Job Perkins
Mary Elizabeth Hanham
formerly Mundy

Job Perkins
Mary Elizabeth Hanham
💍 1886/361

Widower
Widow

Labourer
None

50 years
50 years

Richmond St
Richmond St

1 year
13 years

Dwelling house of Mr Henry Lough

86/203

28 January 1886

Rev. F. G. Evans Church of England Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	28 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Job Perkins	Mary Elizabeth Hanham formerly Mundy
	💍 1886/361
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	None
Age	50 years	50 years
Dwelling Place	Richmond St	Richmond St
Length of Residence	1 year	13 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Henry Lough
Folio	86/203
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Evans Church of England Minister

1 February 1886

Alfred Joshua Thorp
Anna Susanna Morgan

Alfred Joshua Thorp
Anna Susanna Horgan
💍 1886/360

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

43 years
22 years

Ohinemuri
Hikutaia

15 years
4 years

Dwelling house of Mr May

86/202

1 February 1886

Rev. F. G. Evans Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	1 February 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Joshua Thorp	Anna Susanna Morgan
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Joshua Thorp	Anna Susanna Horgan
	💍 1886/360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	43 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Ohinemuri	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr May
Folio	86/202
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Evans Church of England

3 March 1886

Joseph Samuel Willetts
Eleanor Gold

Joseph Samuel Willetts
Eleanor Gold
💍 1886/332

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
None

21 years
19 years

Willoughby St
Kape Creek

15 years
6 years

Dwelling house of Mr James Gold

86/112

James Gold father of minor

3 March 1886

Rev. S. R. Dooley Baptist Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	3 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Samuel Willetts	Eleanor Gold
	💍 1886/332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	None
Age	21 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Willoughby St	Kape Creek
Length of Residence	15 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr James Gold
Folio	86/112
Consent	James Gold father of minor
Date of Certificate	3 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Dooley Baptist 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 1908. 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).