Intentions to Marry, 1901 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840419, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, September 22 2025

1901 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 523

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar E. Tomiss

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

23 April 1901

Graham Connell
Mary Blanche Guthrie

Graham Connell
Mary Blanche Guthrie
💍 1901/1273

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery Hand
None

30
32

Thames
Thames

3 days
30 years

St-George's Church, Mackay St

01/1654

23 April 1901

Rev. Y. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	23 April 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Graham Connell	Mary Blanche Guthrie
	💍 1901/1273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery Hand	None
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	St-George's Church, Mackay St
Folio	01/1654
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Y. O'Callaghan, Church of England

4 May 1901

John Richards
Lilywhite Lavinia Cole

John Richards
Lilly White Lavinia Cole
💍 1901/1274

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

31
20

Thames
Thames

26 years
20 years

St-George's Church, Mackay St

01/1655

William Cole, Father

4 May 1901

Rev. Y. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	4 May 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richards	Lilywhite Lavinia Cole
BDM Match (94%)	John Richards	Lilly White Lavinia Cole
	💍 1901/1274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St-George's Church, Mackay St
Folio	01/1655
Consent	William Cole, Father
Date of Certificate	4 May 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Y. O'Callaghan, Church of England

17 May 1901

Charles Farrow
Ethel Miriam Rowe

Charles Farrow
Ethel Miriam Rowe
💍 1901/1284

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

22
16

Thames
Thames

3 days
16 years

The Dwelling of Richard William Rowe, Mranataiari

01/1664

Louisa Bennett, Mother

17 May 1901

Rev. E. W. Drake, Primitive Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	17 May 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Farrow	Ethel Miriam Rowe
	💍 1901/1284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Richard William Rowe, Mranataiari
Folio	01/1664
Consent	Louisa Bennett, Mother
Date of Certificate	17 May 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Drake, Primitive Methodist

20 May 1901

William Watson Gottingham Green
Edith Hale

William Watson Cottingham Green
Edith Hale
💍 1901/1279

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
None

21
23

Thames
Thames

3 days
23 years

The Residence of Eugene Hale, Matatoke

01/1660

20 May 1901

Rev. Arthur Dewdney, Baptist

No	22
Date of Notice	20 May 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Watson Gottingham Green	Edith Hale
BDM Match (98%)	William Watson Cottingham Green	Edith Hale
	💍 1901/1279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	None
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Eugene Hale, Matatoke
Folio	01/1660
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Dewdney, Baptist

27 May 1901

Henry Adolphus Reynolds
Jessie Ann Battson

Henry Adolphus Reynolds
Jessie Ann Battson
💍 1901/1305

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef
Machinist

38
27

Thames
Thames

3 days
2 weeks

Thames Lecture Hall, Pollen St

01/1669

27 May 1901

Edmund Harvey Taylor, Church of Christ

No	23
Date of Notice	27 May 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Adolphus Reynolds	Jessie Ann Battson
	💍 1901/1305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef	Machinist
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Thames Lecture Hall, Pollen St
Folio	01/1669
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1901
Officiating Minister	Edmund Harvey Taylor, Church of Christ

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).