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 745

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar Edward Horniss

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

25 March 1902

Walter Kenneth Cameron
Elizabeth Condon

Walter Kenneth Cameron
Elizabeth Bertha Condon
💍 1902/2519

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Laundress

21
21

Thames
Thames

21 years
6 months

The Dwelling of Revd. Edwd. Drake, Sealey St, Thames

02/305

25 March 1902

Rev. Edwd. Drake, Primitive Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	25 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Kenneth Cameron	Elizabeth Condon
BDM Match (85%)	Walter Kenneth Cameron	Elizabeth Bertha Condon
	💍 1902/2519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Laundress
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	6 months
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Revd. Edwd. Drake, Sealey St, Thames
Folio	02/305
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edwd. Drake, Primitive Methodist

27 March 1902

William Main Johnstone
Margaret Fisher

William Main Johnstone
Margaret Fisher
💍 1902/1214

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

25
24

Thames
Thames

1 day
24 years

The Dwelling of Agnes Johnstone, Waiotahi

02/184

1 April 1902

Rev. A. D. Thomson, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	27 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Main Johnstone	Margaret Fisher
	💍 1902/1214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	24 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Agnes Johnstone, Waiotahi
Folio	02/184
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Thomson, Presbyterian

29 March 1902

John McKell Brown
Clara Beatrice Paltridge

John McKell Brown
Clara Beatrice Paltridge
💍 1902/2522

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
None

30
27

Thames
Thames

1 day
25 years

The Dwelling of Thos. Paltridge, Rolleston St, Thames

02/308

31 March 1902

Rev. D. J. Murray, Methodist

No	15
Date of Notice	29 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKell Brown	Clara Beatrice Paltridge
	💍 1902/2522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	None
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	25 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Thos. Paltridge, Rolleston St, Thames
Folio	02/308
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Murray, Methodist

29 March 1902

Alfred Edwin Earnshaw
Ada Jackson

Alfred Edwin Earnshaw
Ada Jackson
💍 1902/1223

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

35
28

Thames
Thames

2 weeks
28 years

St. George's Church, Thames

02/1807

29 March 1902

Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	29 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edwin Earnshaw	Ada Jackson
	💍 1902/1223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 weeks	28 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	02/1807
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

30 March 1902

Andrew Otto Thorburn
Mary Jane Rennie

Andrew Otto Thorburn
Mary Jane Rennie
💍 1902/2516

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Waitress

21
19

Thames
Thames

21 years
18 months

The Office of the Registrar, Thames

02/302

Father

30 March 1902

James Frederick Charles Horniss, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	30 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Otto Thorburn	Mary Jane Rennie
	💍 1902/2516
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Waitress
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	18 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar, Thames
Folio	02/302
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	30 March 1902
Officiating Minister	James Frederick Charles Horniss, Registrar

31 March 1902

Norman Henworth Sanger Law
Esther Elizabeth Reid

Norman Heyworth Sanger Law
Esther Elizabeth Reid
💍 1902/2523

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
None

24
25

Thames
Thames

3 days
25 years

The Dwelling of William D. Reid, Campbell St, Thames

02/309

31 March 1902

Rev. John Law, Methodist

No	18
Date of Notice	31 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Henworth Sanger Law	Esther Elizabeth Reid
BDM Match (98%)	Norman Heyworth Sanger Law	Esther Elizabeth Reid
	💍 1902/2523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	None
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of William D. Reid, Campbell St, Thames
Folio	02/309
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Law, 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).