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 1221

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1886 Registrar Alexander de Courcy Porterston

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

21 December 1886

Lawrence McNamara
Mary McFarlane

Laurence McNamara
Mary McFarlane
💍 1886/2757

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

33 years
22 years

Paeroa Ohinemuri
Paeroa Ohinemuri

4 years
18 months

Roman Catholic Church

86/2740

21 December 1886

Rev. P. Costello, Roman Catholic Minister

No	49
Date of Notice	21 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence McNamara	Mary McFarlane
BDM Match (97%)	Laurence McNamara	Mary McFarlane
	💍 1886/2757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	33 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Paeroa Ohinemuri	Paeroa Ohinemuri
Length of Residence	4 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	86/2740
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Costello, Roman Catholic Minister

23 December 1886

John Rickard
Mary Ann Milnes

John Rickard
Mary Ann Milner
💍 1886/2769

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

24 years
22 years

Karaka Road
Hill St.

7 years
11 years

Baptist Church, Thames

86/2729

23 December 1886

Rev. D. R. Woolley, Baptist Minister

No	50
Date of Notice	23 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rickard	Mary Ann Milnes
BDM Match (97%)	John Rickard	Mary Ann Milner
	💍 1886/2769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Karaka Road	Hill St.
Length of Residence	7 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Thames
Folio	86/2729
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. R. Woolley, Baptist Minister

29 December 1886

Frederick Augustus Thompson
Eliza Thompson Best

Fredrick Agustus Thompson
Eliza Thompson Best
💍 1887/2032

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Surveyor
None

27 years
20 years

Naiau - Omuri, Nelson N.Z.
Napier Road, Thames

3 days at Thames
9 months

Wesleyan Church, Thames

86/167

Edward Best, father of Minor

No	51
Date of Notice	29 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Augustus Thompson	Eliza Thompson Best
BDM Match (96%)	Fredrick Agustus Thompson	Eliza Thompson Best
	💍 1887/2032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Surveyor	None
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Naiau - Omuri, Nelson N.Z.	Napier Road, Thames
Length of Residence	3 days at Thames	9 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Thames
Folio	86/167
Consent	Edward Best, father of Minor
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

30 December 1886

William Eyton
Polly Victoria Charlotte Price

William Eyton
Polly Victoria Charlotte Price
💍 1887/2030

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
None

25 years
20 years

Owen St.
Terrace St.

6 days
16 years

Dwelling house of Mrs Ellis

86/165

Mary Ann Ellis, mother of Minor

No	52
Date of Notice	30 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Eyton	Polly Victoria Charlotte Price
	💍 1887/2030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	None
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Owen St.	Terrace St.
Length of Residence	6 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mrs Ellis
Folio	86/165
Consent	Mary Ann Ellis, mother of Minor
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

30 December 1886

Richard Henry Ellis
Cecilia Vonge

Richard Henry Ellis
Cecilia Tonge
💍 1886/2756

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Servant

24 years
22 years

Tararu
Pollen St.

17 years
17 years

St. John's Church, Tararu

86/2739

30 December 1886

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

No	53
Date of Notice	30 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Ellis	Cecilia Vonge
BDM Match (96%)	Richard Henry Ellis	Cecilia Tonge
	💍 1886/2756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Servant
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Tararu	Pollen St.
Length of Residence	17 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Tararu
Folio	86/2739
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England 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).