Intentions to Marry, 1889

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840401, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 1231

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1889

No	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
36	7 October 1889	Robert Crawford Elizabeth Keann	Robert Crawford Margaretta Tubman 💍 1890/401	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	33 22	Thames Hope Creek Thames	14 years 20 years	The Dwelling of Mr James Mann	89/2785		7 October 1889	Revd J. Dawson Primitive Methodist
37	9 October 1889	John Jamison Catherine Bunting	John Jamieson Kate Bunting 💍 1889/758	Bachelor Spinster	Boatman Domestic Servant	26 22	Thames Thames	11 years 2 years	The Office of the Registrar	89/2790		9 October 1889	E. Honiss Registrar
38	24 October 1889	William Peter Phillips Mary Hunter	William Peter Phillips Mary Hunter 💍 1889/775	Bachelor Spinster	Cordwainer Domestic Servant	26 23	Cochrane St Thames Edwards St Waitangarna	20 years 10 years	The Dwelling of Mr J. McDonald	89/2783		24 October 1889	Revd J. J. Neile Presbyterian
39	2 November 1889	Thomas Webb Clarissa Rachel Maria Lemanguis	Thomas Webb Clarissa Rachel Maria Le Manguais 💍 1889/759 Thomas Webb Margaret Mary Ann O'Gara 💍 1889/2119	Widower Spinster	Bush Contractor Domestic Servant	46 23	Parawai Parawai	12 years 20 years	The Dwelling of Mr F. Lemanguis Parawai	89/2791		2 November 1889	Revd J. K. Davies Church of England
40	27 November 1889	Charles Henry Ludwig Lydia Gribble	Charles Henry Ludwig Lydia Deetle 💍 1889/755	Bachelor Spinster	Amalgamator None	22 18	Tararu Tararu	3 years 3 weeks	The Dwelling of Mr Samuel Gribble Franklyn St Waitangarna	89/2787	Samuel Gribble uncle	27 November 1889	Revd W. Heall Wesleyan
41	17 December 1889	Joshua Leys Jane Elizabeth Herivell	Joshua Lyes Jane Elizabeth Herivel 💍 1889/756	Bachelor Spinster	Miner None	26 17	Baillie St Thames Thames Pollen St	21 years 17 years	The Dwelling of Mr William Herivell	89/2788	William John Herivell Father	17 December 1889	Revd W. Heall Wesleyan
42	18 December 1889	John Harauwira Raharui Clara Maud Faultney	John Harauwira Raharuhi Clara Maud Faulkner 💍 1890/297	Widower Spinster	Farmer None	31 18	Thames Thames Mackay St	2 days 2 days	St George's Church	90/90	No person in the Colony having authority to give consent for the minor	1 January 1890	Revd J. O'Callaghan DD Church of England

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).