Intentions to Marry, 1896 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840409, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025

1896 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 594

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1896 Registrar S. Howes

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

4 May 1896

John Connelly
Charlotte Jane Price

John Connelly
Charlotte Jane Price
💍 1896/4576

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

25
23

Thames
Thames

25 years
23 years

The Dwelling of Edward Thos. Price, Karaka Creek

96/1301

4 May 1896

Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	24
Date of Notice	4 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Connelly	Charlotte Jane Price
	💍 1896/4576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Edward Thos. Price, Karaka Creek
Folio	96/1301
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

13 May 1896

Peter Conway
Margaret Connelly

Peter Conway
Margaret Connelly
💍 1896/4577

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery Hand
None

26
22

Thames
Thames

3 days
22 years

St. Francis Church, Willoughby St., Thames

96/1302

13 May 1896

Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	25
Date of Notice	13 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Conway	Margaret Connelly
	💍 1896/4577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery Hand	None
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Church, Willoughby St., Thames
Folio	96/1302
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

15 May 1896

Duncan Joseph Cameron
Matilda Mary Josephine Millett

Duncan Joseph Cameron
Matilda Mary Josephine Willetts
💍 1896/569

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

23
21

Thames
Thames

20 years
21 years

The Dwelling of Charles Hart, Upper Albert Street, Thames

96/1303

15 May 1896

Rev. Fred. W. Boys, Primitive Methodist

No	26
Date of Notice	15 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Joseph Cameron	Matilda Mary Josephine Millett
BDM Match (97%)	Duncan Joseph Cameron	Matilda Mary Josephine Willetts
	💍 1896/569
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Charles Hart, Upper Albert Street, Thames
Folio	96/1303
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Fred. W. Boys, Primitive Methodist

18 May 1896

George Gedmond Paul
Sarah Jane Dyson

George Geelong Paul
Sarah Jane Dixon
💍 1896/3

Bachelor
Spinster

Licensed Interpreter
None

22
23

Thames
Thames

22 years
18 years

The Dwelling of William Hill, Edward St., Block 27

96/1304

18 May 1896

Rev. Samuel J. Serpell, Wesleyan

No	27
Date of Notice	18 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gedmond Paul	Sarah Jane Dyson
BDM Match (86%)	George Geelong Paul	Sarah Jane Dixon
	💍 1896/3
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Licensed Interpreter	None
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of William Hill, Edward St., Block 27
Folio	96/1304
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel J. Serpell, Wesleyan

22 May 1896

Charles Edwin McCarthy
Rosalie Lambert

Charles Edwin McCarthny
Rosalie Lambert
💍 1896/550

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dress Maker

28
27

Puriri
Thames

12 years
25 years

The Dwelling of Edward Lambert, Parawai

96/1305

22 May 1896

Edmund H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	28
Date of Notice	22 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin McCarthy	Rosalie Lambert
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Edwin McCarthny	Rosalie Lambert
	💍 1896/550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dress Maker
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Thames
Length of Residence	12 years	25 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Edward Lambert, Parawai
Folio	96/1305
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1896
Officiating Minister	Edmund H. Taylor, Church of Christ

25 May 1896

Tuke Hikurangi
Hineuru Hohepa

Tuke Hikurangi
Hineuru Hohepa
💍 1896/551

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
None

37
40

Thames
Thames

2 weeks
2 weeks

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

96/1306

25 May 1896

E. Howes, Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	25 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tuke Hikurangi	Hineuru Hohepa
	💍 1896/551
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	None
Age	37	40
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	96/1306
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1896
Officiating Minister	E. Howes, 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).