Intentions to Marry, 1909 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840439, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 677

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1909 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

22 November 1909

Edward Barry
Marie Sarich

Edward Barry
Marie Sarich
💍 1909/6493

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman N.Z.R.
Domestic duties

25
24

Thames
Thames

2 days
24 years

Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby St, Thames

09/8109

24 November 1909

Rev H. G. Gigan, Roman Catholic

No	67
Date of Notice	22 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Barry	Marie Sarich
	💍 1909/6493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman N.Z.R.	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby St, Thames
Folio	09/8109
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Gigan, Roman Catholic

26 November 1909

Arthur Moody
Ada Olive Thorburn

Arthur Moody
Ada Olive Thorburn
💍 1909/4769

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Dressmaker

26
23

Thames
Thames

1 day
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

09/6206

30 November 1909

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	68
Date of Notice	26 November 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Moody	Ada Olive Thorburn
	💍 1909/4769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Dressmaker
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	09/6206
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 November 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

4 December 1909

Harold Eaddy
Marianne Isabel Thorburn

Harold Eaddy
Mariann Isabel Thorburn
💍 1909/4770

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright
Domestic duties

24
21

Thames
Thames

1 day
2 years

St James' Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

09/6207

8 December 1909

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	4 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Eaddy	Marianne Isabel Thorburn
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Eaddy	Mariann Isabel Thorburn
	💍 1909/4770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	2 years
Marriage Place	St James' Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	09/6207
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

10 December 1909

David McKane
Ellen Sarah Sophia Bellers

David McKane
Ellen Sarah Sophia Bellers
💍 1909/8067

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic duties

26
25

Thames
Thames

6 days
6 days

Church of England, Mackay St, Thames

09/6217

10 December 1909

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	70
Date of Notice	10 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David McKane	Ellen Sarah Sophia Bellers
	💍 1909/8067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mackay St, Thames
Folio	09/6217
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

11 December 1909

John McKenzie
Margaret Shearer

John McKenzie
Margaret Shearer
💍 1909/4771

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Nurse

39
39

Puriri
Puriri

39 years
5 years

In the house of Mrs J. McKenzie, Puriri

09/6208

11 December 1909

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	71
Date of Notice	11 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKenzie	Margaret Shearer
	💍 1909/4771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Nurse
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	39 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs J. McKenzie, Puriri
Folio	09/6208
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

11 December 1909

Charles Doidge Bailey
Annie Elizabeth Harding

Charles Bailey Doidge
Annie Elizabeth Harding
💍 1909/8078

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron Turner
Domestic duties

27
26

Thames
Thames

27 years
18 months

Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames

09/6218

11 December 1909

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	72
Date of Notice	11 December 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Doidge Bailey	Annie Elizabeth Harding
BDM Match (76%)	Charles Bailey Doidge	Annie Elizabeth Harding
	💍 1909/8078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron Turner	Domestic duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	27 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	09/6218
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1909
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

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 1908. 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).