Intentions to Marry, 1905 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840427, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1905 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1905a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1905b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1905c).

Page 311

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar M. W. Potts

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

13 February 1905

George William Gribble
Olive Halfard Grace Rose

Bacheler
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

29
23

Thames
Thames

2 days
23 years

In the house of Mr. W. Gribble, Queen Street, Thames

05/327

15 February 1905

Rev. R. Taylor, Wesleyan Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	13 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Gribble	Olive Halfard Grace Rose
Condition	Bacheler	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. W. Gribble, Queen Street, Thames
Folio	05/327
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Taylor, Wesleyan Methodist

14 February 1905

William Meaton Black
Jeanie MacKechnie Stewart

Bacheler
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

23
26

Thames
Thames

2 years
28 years

In the house of Mr. Gibson, Baillie Street, Thames

05/319

14 February 1905

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	14 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Meaton Black	Jeanie MacKechnie Stewart
Condition	Bacheler	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	28 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Gibson, Baillie Street, Thames
Folio	05/319
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

28 February 1905

Alfred Henry Penkshaw
Rahu Parata

Wilfred Henry Renshaw
Kahu Parata
💍 1905/4794

Bacheler
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

25
23

Thames
Thames

25 years
2 months

In the house of Rahu Parata, Pollen Street, Thames

05/312

28 February 1905

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	28 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Penkshaw	Rahu Parata
BDM Match (86%)	Wilfred Henry Renshaw	Kahu Parata
	💍 1905/4794
Condition	Bacheler	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	2 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Rahu Parata, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	05/312
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

28 February 1905

Bartholomew Walker
Hurry Rainga

Bacheler
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic

32
26

Thames
Thames

3 days
26 years

Church of England, Tararu

05/326

1 March 1905

Rev. D. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	28 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bartholomew Walker	Hurry Rainga
Condition	Bacheler	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tararu
Folio	05/326
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. O'Callaghan, Church of England

14 March 1905

John Edwin James
Mary Ann Cleave

John Edwin James
Eliza Ann Cleave
💍 1905/6263

Bacheler
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
18

Thames
Thames

22 years
18 years

In the house of W. Cleave, Yanaka Road, Thames

05/126

14 March 1905

Rev. J. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	14 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edwin James	Mary Ann Cleave
BDM Match (84%)	John Edwin James	Eliza Ann Cleave
	💍 1905/6263
Condition	Bacheler	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. Cleave, Yanaka Road, Thames
Folio	05/126
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

18 March 1905

Woods Hyatt Price
Hannah Sarah Price

Bacheler
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

28
20

Thames
Thames

9 years
20 years

At the residence of Price, Royal Oak, Thames

05/313

21 March 1905

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	18 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Woods Hyatt Price	Hannah Sarah Price
Condition	Bacheler	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	9 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Price, Royal Oak, Thames
Folio	05/313
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

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).