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 459

District of THAMES Quarter ending 30 June 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

1 May 1886

Samuel Howard
Kellie Moroney

Samuel Howard
Nellie Moronry
💍 1886/1181

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

26 years
19 years

Owen St
Queen St

1 year
9 months

St George's Church, Thames

86/1042

Michael Moroney, father of bride

14 May 1886

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

No	20
Date of Notice	1 May 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Howard	Kellie Moroney
BDM Match (93%)	Samuel Howard	Nellie Moronry
	💍 1886/1181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Owen St	Queen St
Length of Residence	1 year	9 months
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Thames
Folio	86/1042
Consent	Michael Moroney, father of bride
Date of Certificate	14 May 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England Minister

22 May 1886

Thomas Faulds
Annie Peitman

Thomas Foulds Senior
Annie Rutmann
💍 1886/1183

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Servant

21 years
19 years

Collarbone Hill
Baillie St

6 months
1 year

Dwelling house of Henry Peitman, Baillie St

86/1014

Henry Peitman, father

22 May 1886

Rev. E. Best, Wesleyan Minister

No	21
Date of Notice	22 May 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Faulds	Annie Peitman
BDM Match (65%)	Thomas Foulds Senior	Annie Rutmann
	💍 1886/1183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Servant
Age	21 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Collarbone Hill	Baillie St
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Henry Peitman, Baillie St
Folio	86/1014
Consent	Henry Peitman, father
Date of Certificate	22 May 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Best, Wesleyan Minister

31 May 1886

James Scott Ingram
Janet Weir
formerly McLarty

James Scott Ingram
Janet Weir
💍 1886/1182

Widower
Widow

Journalist
None

55 years
50 years

Brown St
Karaka Road

8 months
5 days

Dwelling house of Rev. F. G. Evans, Karaka Road

86/1073

31 May 1886

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

No	22
Date of Notice	31 May 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Scott Ingram	Janet Weir formerly McLarty
	💍 1886/1182
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Journalist	None
Age	55 years	50 years
Dwelling Place	Brown St	Karaka Road
Length of Residence	8 months	5 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Rev. F. G. Evans, Karaka Road
Folio	86/1073
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England Minister

3 June 1886

George Henry Angove
Amelia Rowe

George Henry Angove
Amelia Rowe
💍 1886/1191

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

32 years
21 years

Pollen St
Karaka Creek

12 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Thames

86/1059

3 June 1886

A. de Courcy Potterton, Registrar

No	23
Date of Notice	3 June 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Angove	Amelia Rowe
	💍 1886/1191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	32 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Pollen St	Karaka Creek
Length of Residence	12 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	86/1059
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1886
Officiating Minister	A. de Courcy Potterton, Registrar

14 June 1886

Samuel Dabb
Mary Lang

Samuel Dabbs
Mary Lang
💍 1886/1171

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

27 years
21 years

Karaka Road
Eureka Hill

1 year
15 years

Dwelling house of William Lang, Eureka Hill

86/1063

William Lang, father

14 June 1886

Rev. R. Laishley, Congregational Minister

No	24
Date of Notice	14 June 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Dabb	Mary Lang
BDM Match (96%)	Samuel Dabbs	Mary Lang
	💍 1886/1171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Karaka Road	Eureka Hill
Length of Residence	1 year	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of William Lang, Eureka Hill
Folio	86/1063
Consent	William Lang, father
Date of Certificate	14 June 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Laishley, Congregational Minister

19 June 1886

John Woods
Margaret McEntee

John Woods
Margaret McEnteer
💍 1886/1190

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

33 years
21 years

Karaka Creek
Hairataki Creek

7 years
4 years

St Francis' Church, Thames

86/1058

19 June 1886

Rev. A. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	25
Date of Notice	19 June 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Woods	Margaret McEntee
BDM Match (97%)	John Woods	Margaret McEnteer
	💍 1886/1190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	33 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Karaka Creek	Hairataki Creek
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Francis' Church, Thames
Folio	86/1058
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. 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).

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).