Intentions to Marry, 1900 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840417, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, September 12 2025

1900 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 124

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar Estonis

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

12 February 1900

Henry Jenkinson
Beatrice Maria McWatters

Henry Jenkinson
Beatrice Maria McWalters
💍 1900/196

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

35
28

Thames
Thames

3 years
28 years

The Presbyterian Church, Thames

00/233

12 February 1900

Rev. John Mackenzie, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	12 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Jenkinson	Beatrice Maria McWatters
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Jenkinson	Beatrice Maria McWalters
	💍 1900/196
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	28 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	00/233
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Mackenzie, Presbyterian

13 February 1900

Francis Joseph Strange
Bridget Keohane

Francis Joseph Strange
Bridget Keohane
💍 1900/200

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
None

28
26

Hikutaia
Hikutaia

2 years
7 years

The Pioneer Hotel, Hikutaia

00/237

13 February 1900

Rev. W. H. Mahoney, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	13 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Strange	Bridget Keohane
	💍 1900/200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	None
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The Pioneer Hotel, Hikutaia
Folio	00/237
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Mahoney, Roman Catholic

14 February 1900

Frederick Hewson Whitehead
Beatrice Louise Gribble

Frederick Hewson Whitehead
Beatrice Louise Gribble
💍 1900/193

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
None

26
22

Thames
Thames

26 years
22 years

The Dwelling of Wm. Gribble, Pollen St, Thames

00/229

14 February 1900

Rev. A. Dewdney, Baptist

No	9
Date of Notice	14 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hewson Whitehead	Beatrice Louise Gribble
	💍 1900/193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	None
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	22 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Wm. Gribble, Pollen St, Thames
Folio	00/229
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Dewdney, Baptist

19 February 1900

Horace Augustus Yockney
Martha Irene Whitehouse

Horace Augustus Yockney
Martha Irene Whitehouse
💍 1900/201

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Clerk
None

25
20

Thames
Turua, Thames

3 days
20 years

The Dwelling of James F. Whitehouse, Turua

00/238

19 February 1900

Thos. John Bell, Church of Christ

No	10
Date of Notice	19 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Augustus Yockney	Martha Irene Whitehouse
	💍 1900/201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Clerk	None
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Turua, Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of James F. Whitehouse, Turua
Folio	00/238
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Thos. John Bell, Church of Christ

6 March 1900

Colan Nicholas Gribble
Phoebe Georgina Coghlan

Colan Nicholas Gribble
Phoebe Georgina Coghlan
💍 1900/194

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

24
18

Thames
Thames

3 days
8 months

The Dwelling of James Gribble, Totara Point

00/230

Charles Coghlan, Father

7 March 1900

Rev. Edward Drake, Primitive Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	6 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colan Nicholas Gribble	Phoebe Georgina Coghlan
	💍 1900/194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	8 months
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of James Gribble, Totara Point
Folio	00/230
Consent	Charles Coghlan, Father
Date of Certificate	7 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Drake, Primitive Methodist

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).