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 736

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 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

8 November 1902

Claude Edwin Hands
Helen Chalmers Wyatt

Claude Edwin Hands
Helen Chalmers Wyatt
💍 1902/5025

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

24
23

Thames
Narahoe Thames

1 day
12 years

The Dwelling of George E. Wyatt, Narahoe

02/4941

12 November 1902

Rev. A. D. Thomson, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	8 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Edwin Hands	Helen Chalmers Wyatt
	💍 1902/5025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Narahoe Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	12 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of George E. Wyatt, Narahoe
Folio	02/4941
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Thomson, Presbyterian

19 November 1902

William Francis Burns
Florence Elizabeth Walton

William Francis Burns
Florence Elizabeth Walton
💍 1902/5037

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery Manager
None

27
21

Thames
Thames

2 years
21 years

The Wesleyan Church, Thames

02/4948

19 November 1902

Rev. J. J. Smalley, Methodist

No	52
Date of Notice	19 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Burns	Florence Elizabeth Walton
	💍 1902/5037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery Manager	None
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Church, Thames
Folio	02/4948
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Smalley, Methodist

29 November 1902

Sydney George Baker
Sarah Amelia Curtis

Sydney George Baker
Sarah Amelia Curtis
💍 1902/5034

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

21
21

Thames
Thames

21 years
21 years

The Dwelling of Henry William Curtis, Parawai

02/4945

29 November 1902

Edmund H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	53
Date of Notice	29 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney George Baker	Sarah Amelia Curtis
	💍 1902/5034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Henry William Curtis, Parawai
Folio	02/4945
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Edmund H. Taylor, Church of Christ

13 December 1902

Alfred Clarence Houghton
Agnes McConnell

Alfred Clarence Houghton
Agnes McConnell
💍 1902/5031

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

22
17

Thames
Thames

22 years
17 years

The Dwelling of William McConnell, Waiotahi Creek

02/4942

Father

13 December 1902

Rev. A. D. Thomson, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	13 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Clarence Houghton	Agnes McConnell
	💍 1902/5031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	17 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of William McConnell, Waiotahi Creek
Folio	02/4942
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	13 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Thomson, Presbyterian

15 December 1902

Ernest Palmer Hardman
Margaret Mhelan

Ernest Palmer Hardman
Margaret Whelan
💍 1903/469

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

25
22

Thames
Thames

24 years
21 years

The Dwelling of John Vercoe, Hill St, Block 27

03/965

31 December 1902

Edmund H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	55
Date of Notice	15 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Palmer Hardman	Margaret Mhelan
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest Palmer Hardman	Margaret Whelan
	💍 1903/469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of John Vercoe, Hill St, Block 27
Folio	03/965
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Edmund H. 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).