Intentions to Marry, 1898 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840414, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 27 2025

1898 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 572

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1898 Registrar Edward Honiss

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 1898

William Gibson
Susannah Swindells

William Gibson
Susannah Swindells
💍 1898/3270

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand
None

26
17

Thames
Thames

14 years
9 months

St Francis Church, Willoughby St., Thames

98/3983

Mary Ann Wright, Guardian aunt (Orphan)

24 December 1898

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	87
Date of Notice	21 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gibson	Susannah Swindells
	💍 1898/3270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand	None
Age	26	17
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	14 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St Francis Church, Willoughby St., Thames
Folio	98/3983
Consent	Mary Ann Wright, Guardian aunt (Orphan)
Date of Certificate	24 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

22 December 1898

Charles Edward Davies
Sarah Eleanor McLoughlin

Charles Edward Davies
Sarah Ellenor McLoughlin
💍 1898/3263

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
None

27
23

Thames
Thames

3 years
23 years

St Francis Presbytery, Willoughby St., Thames

98/3982

22 December 1898

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	88
Date of Notice	22 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Davies	Sarah Eleanor McLoughlin
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Edward Davies	Sarah Ellenor McLoughlin
	💍 1898/3263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	None
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Presbytery, Willoughby St., Thames
Folio	98/3982
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

23 December 1898

Henry Arthur Steele
Henrietta Vercoe

Henry Arthur Steele
Henrietta Vercoe
💍 1898/4418

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

24
21

Thames
Thames

2 years
21 years

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

98/3979

23 December 1898

Rev. F. J. Serpell, Wesleyan

No	89
Date of Notice	23 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arthur Steele	Henrietta Vercoe
	💍 1898/4418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of William Vercoe, Hill St., Block 27
Folio	98/3979
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Serpell, Wesleyan

24 December 1898

Albert Clarence Jamieson
Rose Amelia Holt

Albert Clarence Jamieson
Rose Amelia Holt
💍 1898/4422

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

26
18

Tapu
Tapu

26 years
18 years

The Office of the Registrar, Thames

98/3966

Francis Holt, Father

24 December 1898

Edward Honiss, Registrar

No	90
Date of Notice	24 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Clarence Jamieson	Rose Amelia Holt
	💍 1898/4422
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Tapu	Tapu
Length of Residence	26 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar, Thames
Folio	98/3966
Consent	Francis Holt, Father
Date of Certificate	24 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Edward Honiss, Registrar

24 December 1898

William Kerby
Annie Elizabeth Fisher

William Kerley
Annie Elizabeth Fisher
💍 1898/4404

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
None

23
20

Thames
Thames

3 days
20 years

The Dwelling of Peter Fisher, Karaka Creek

98/3966

Peter Fisher, Father

24 December 1898

Rev. John Mackenzie, Presbyterian

No	91
Date of Notice	24 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kerby	Annie Elizabeth Fisher
BDM Match (93%)	William Kerley	Annie Elizabeth Fisher
	💍 1898/4404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	None
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Peter Fisher, Karaka Creek
Folio	98/3966
Consent	Peter Fisher, Father
Date of Certificate	24 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Mackenzie, Presbyterian

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).