Intentions to Marry, 1902 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840421, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, October 3 2025

1902 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 742

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1902

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 April 1902

Albert John Noakes
Maria Edith Challis

Albert John Noakes
Maria Edith Challis
💍 1902/1206

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

29
22

Thames
Thames

3 days
22 years

St. John's Church, Tararu, Thames

02/1806

22 April 1902

Rev. T. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	21 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Noakes	Maria Edith Challis
	💍 1902/1206
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Tararu, Thames
Folio	02/1806
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Callaghan, Church of England

28 April 1902

James Tumlin Moss
Janie Johnstone

James Sumlin Moss
Janie Johnston
💍 1902/1208

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer
None

28
21

Thames
Thames

2 years
21 years

St. George's Church, Thames

02/1808

28 April 1902

Rev. T. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	28 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Tumlin Moss	Janie Johnstone
BDM Match (94%)	James Sumlin Moss	Janie Johnston
	💍 1902/1208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer	None
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	02/1808
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Callaghan, Church of England

28 April 1902

William Tararu Brown
Mary Elizabeth Darrow

William Tarara Brown
Mary Elizabeth Darrow
💍 1902/2144

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
None

27
28

Thames
Thames

2 days
28 years

Presbyterian Church, Tararu

02/1819

29 April 1902

Rev. A. D. Thomson, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	28 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Tararu Brown	Mary Elizabeth Darrow
BDM Match (98%)	William Tarara Brown	Mary Elizabeth Darrow
	💍 1902/2144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	None
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tararu
Folio	02/1819
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Thomson, Presbyterian

30 April 1902

George Lewis Killgour
Mary Ann Green

George Lewis Killgour
Mary Ann Green
💍 1902/1207

Bachelor
Spinster

Bush Contractor
None

26
19

Thames
Thames

26 years
19 years

The Dwelling of Thos. Killgour, Bowen St., Parawai

02/1807

30 April 1902

T. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	30 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Lewis Killgour	Mary Ann Green
	💍 1902/1207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bush Contractor	None
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	19 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Thos. Killgour, Bowen St., Parawai
Folio	02/1807
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1902
Officiating Minister	T. O'Callaghan, Church of England

2 May 1902

Walter Charles Wells
Frances Susan Outridge

Walter Charles Wells
Frances Susan Autridge
💍 1902/1211

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

26
25

Thames
Thames

2 days
25 years

The Dwelling of James Outridge, Brown St., Thames

02/1811

10 May 1902

Edmund Harvey Taylor, Church of Christ

No	28
Date of Notice	2 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Charles Wells	Frances Susan Outridge
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Charles Wells	Frances Susan Autridge
	💍 1902/1211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	25 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of James Outridge, Brown St., Thames
Folio	02/1811
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Edmund Harvey Taylor, Church of Christ

10 May 1902

Edward William Cooke
Margaret O'Brien

Edward William Cooke
Margaret O'Brien
💍 1902/1400

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
None

33
23

Matatoke
Puriri

20 years
15 years

St. Francis Church, Thames

02/2015

10 May 1902

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	29
Date of Notice	10 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Cooke	Margaret O'Brien
	💍 1902/1400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	None
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Matatoke	Puriri
Length of Residence	20 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Church, Thames
Folio	02/2015
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

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).