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 747

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1902 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

2 January 1902

Robert McDonald
Bessie Maude Lang

Robert McDonald
Bessie Maude Lang
💍 1902/2535

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
None

22
22

Thames
Thames

22 years
2 years

The Office of the Registrar, Thames

02/297

3 January 1902

E. Honiss, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McDonald	Bessie Maude Lang
	💍 1902/2535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	None
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar, Thames
Folio	02/297
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1902
Officiating Minister	E. Honiss, Registrar

22 January 1902

Archibald Campbell
Mary McCormick

Archibald Campbell
Mary McCormick
💍 1902/2520

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

28
28

Thames
Thames

28 years
28 years

The Dwelling of Jas McCormick, Upper Richmond Street

02/306

22 January 1902

Rev. J. Murray, Wesleyan

No	2
Date of Notice	22 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Campbell	Mary McCormick
	💍 1902/2520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	28 years	28 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Jas McCormick, Upper Richmond Street
Folio	02/306
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Murray, Wesleyan

4 February 1902

Alfred John Donovan
Eveline Gater

Alfred John Donovan
Eveline Cater
💍 1902/2518

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
None

27
25

Thames
Thames

3 days
25 years

The Dwelling of Fred Gater, Pollen St

02/304

4 February 1902

Rev. E. Drake, Primitive Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	4 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Donovan	Eveline Gater
BDM Match (96%)	Alfred John Donovan	Eveline Cater
	💍 1902/2518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	None
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Fred Gater, Pollen St
Folio	02/304
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Drake, Primitive Methodist

4 February 1902

Frederick William Hetherington
Ethel Violet Mary Miller

Frederick William Hetherington
Ethel Violet Mary Miller
💍 1902/2521

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
None

25
23

Thames
Thames

25 years
23 years

The residence of James A. Miller, Parawai

02/307

4 February 1902

Rev. J. Murray, Wesleyan

No	4
Date of Notice	4 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Hetherington	Ethel Violet Mary Miller
	💍 1902/2521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	None
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The residence of James A. Miller, Parawai
Folio	02/307
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Murray, Wesleyan

8 February 1902

Emile Dupont Aubin
Florence Lillian Hall

Emile Dupont Aubin
Florence Lillian Hall
💍 1902/2524

Bachelor
Spinster

Physician
School Teacher

32
28

Thames
Thames

2 years
28 years

St. George's Church, Thames

02/310

8 February 1902

Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	8 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emile Dupont Aubin	Florence Lillian Hall
	💍 1902/2524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Physician	School Teacher
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	02/310
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

15 February 1902

John Erwin
Phyllis Taylor

John Curin
Phyllis Taylor
💍 1902/2536

Bachelor
Widow

Gum Buyer
Farmer

29
30

Kauaeranga, Thames
Kauaeranga, Thames

2 years
1 year

The Office of the Registrar, Thames

02/298

15 February 1902

E. Honiss, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	15 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Erwin	Phyllis Taylor
BDM Match (85%)	John Curin	Phyllis Taylor
	💍 1902/2536
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Gum Buyer	Farmer
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Kauaeranga, Thames	Kauaeranga, Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar, Thames
Folio	02/298
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1902
Officiating Minister	E. Honiss, Registrar

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).