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 1232

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1889 Registrar S. H. Hirst

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

20 December 1889

George William Baden Peploe
Elija Mary Smith

George William Peploe
Eliza Mary Smith
💍 1889/760

Bachelor
Spinster

Amalgamator
None

21
18

Irishtown Thames
Karaka Thames

21 years
18 years

St George's Church

89/2792

George Smith father

20 December 1889

Rev. J. O. Callaghan DD Church of England

No
Date of Notice	20 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Baden Peploe	Elija Mary Smith
BDM Match (86%)	George William Peploe	Eliza Mary Smith
	💍 1889/760
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Amalgamator	None
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Irishtown Thames	Karaka Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church
Folio	89/2792
Consent	George Smith father
Date of Certificate	20 December 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O. Callaghan DD Church of England

23 December 1889

William John May
Emma Ashman

William John May
Emma Ashman
💍 1889/761

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
School Teacher

24
24

Puriri
Thames

4 years
15 years

St George's Church

89/2793

23 December 1889

Rev. J. O. Callaghan DD Church of England

No
Date of Notice	23 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John May	Emma Ashman
	💍 1889/761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	School Teacher
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church
Folio	89/2793
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O. Callaghan DD Church of England

23 December 1889

William Foster Brown
Emma Mary Sills

William Foster Brown
Arima Mary Sills
💍 1890/301

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
None

29
20

Parawai
Parawai

18 years
4 months

St George's Church

Consent of Father

23 December 1889

Rev. J. G. Neill Presbyterian

No
Date of Notice	23 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Foster Brown	Emma Mary Sills
BDM Match (91%)	William Foster Brown	Arima Mary Sills
	💍 1890/301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	None
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Parawai	Parawai
Length of Residence	18 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St George's Church
Folio
Consent	Consent of Father
Date of Certificate	23 December 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Neill Presbyterian

23 December 1889

Leonard Francis Sykes
Jane Golan Inglis

Leonard Francis Sykes
Jane Golan Inglis
💍 1889/776

Bachelor
Spinster

Tobacconist
Dressmaker

37
27

Thames
Thames

18 years
15 years

The Dwelling of Mr. Jas. Inglis Sealey St.

89/2784

23 December 1889

Rev. J. G. Neill Presbyterian

No
Date of Notice	23 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Francis Sykes	Jane Golan Inglis
	💍 1889/776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist	Dressmaker
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	18 years	15 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Mr. Jas. Inglis Sealey St.
Folio	89/2784
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Neill Presbyterian

24 December 1889

Arthur William Mitchell
Alice Nicholls Bennett

Arthur William Mitchell
Alice Nicholls Bennett
💍 1890/285

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
None

25
22

Puriri
Puriri

5 years
20 years

The Dwelling of Mr. William Bennett Puriri

90/163

24 December 1889

Rev. J. Dawson Primitive Methodist

No
Date of Notice	24 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Mitchell	Alice Nicholls Bennett
	💍 1890/285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	None
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Mr. William Bennett Puriri
Folio	90/163
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dawson Primitive Methodist

28 December 1889

William John Henry Cubis
Catherine Hocking

William John Henry Cubis
Catherine Hocking
💍 1889/757

Bachelor
Widow

Bushman
Shopkeeper

30
27

Thames
Thames

4 years
4 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Mary St. Thames

89/2789

28 December 1889

Edward Honiss Registrar

No
Date of Notice	28 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Henry Cubis	Catherine Hocking
	💍 1889/757
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bushman	Shopkeeper
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Mary St. Thames
Folio	89/2789
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1889
Officiating Minister	Edward Honiss Registrar

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 1903. 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).