Intentions to Marry, 1899 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840416, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington (now located in the National Library reading room), September 5 2025

1899 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 623

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar E. Honies

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

13 November 1899

William John Ward
Alice Robinson

William John Ward
Alice Robinson
💍 1899/4567

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

27
20

Kopu
Kopu

20 years
19 years

The Office of the Registrar, Thames

99/4214

Caleb John Robinson, Father

3 December 1899

Edward Honies, Registrar

No	64
Date of Notice	13 November 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Ward	Alice Robinson
	💍 1899/4567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Kopu	Kopu
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar, Thames
Folio	99/4214
Consent	Caleb John Robinson, Father
Date of Certificate	3 December 1899
Officiating Minister	Edward Honies, Registrar

15 November 1899

Frederick William Callaghan
Ellen Dunn

Frederick William Callaghan
Ellen Dunn
💍 1899/4591

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
None

21
21

Thames
Thames

9 years
21 years

St. Francis Church, Willoughby St., Thames

99/4220

15 November 1899

Rev. W. Mahoney, Roman Catholic

No	65
Date of Notice	15 November 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Callaghan	Ellen Dunn
	💍 1899/4591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	None
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	9 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Church, Willoughby St., Thames
Folio	99/4220
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Mahoney, Roman Catholic

25 November 1899

James Fellers Millcocks
Laura Victoria Plant

James Sellers Willcocks
Laura Victoria Plant
💍 1899/4580

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
None

27
21

Thames
Thames

5 days
21 years

St. George's Church, Thames

99/4222

25 November 1899

Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	66
Date of Notice	25 November 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Fellers Millcocks	Laura Victoria Plant
BDM Match (96%)	James Sellers Willcocks	Laura Victoria Plant
	💍 1899/4580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	None
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	99/4222
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

4 December 1899

George Etheridge Smith
Janet Isabella Hansen

George Ethelridge Smith
Janet Isabella Hansen
💍 1899/4558

Bachelor
Spinster

Pattern Maker
None

26
24

Thames
Thames

26 years
18 years

The Dwelling of Agnes G. Hansen, Beach Road, Thames

99/4218

4 December 1899

Rev. John Mackenzie, Presbyterian

No	67
Date of Notice	4 December 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Etheridge Smith	Janet Isabella Hansen
BDM Match (98%)	George Ethelridge Smith	Janet Isabella Hansen
	💍 1899/4558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pattern Maker	None
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Agnes G. Hansen, Beach Road, Thames
Folio	99/4218
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Mackenzie, Presbyterian

8 December 1899

Tom Hew
Ellen Maria Hodder

Tom New
Ellen Maria Nodder
💍 1899/4589

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand
Housekeeper

28
23

Thames
Thames

2 years
23 years

Wesleyan Church, Pollen St., Thames

99/4225

8 December 1899

Rev. D. J. Murray, Wesleyan

No	68
Date of Notice	8 December 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Hew	Ellen Maria Hodder
BDM Match (90%)	Tom New	Ellen Maria Nodder
	💍 1899/4589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand	Housekeeper
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Pollen St., Thames
Folio	99/4225
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Murray, Wesleyan

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).