Intentions to Marry, 1904 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840425, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, October 13 2025.

1904 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 237

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar George John Alexander Johnstone

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

1433

4 January 1904

John Rosanowski
Mary Blain

John Rosanowski
Mary Blain
💍 1904/3473

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

22
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

9 days
1 year

Church at Ormond

04/239

John Blain, father

4 January 1904

Rev. Thos. Lane, Roman Catholic

No	1433
Date of Notice	4 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rosanowski	Mary Blain
	💍 1904/3473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	9 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Church at Ormond
Folio	04/239
Consent	John Blain, father
Date of Certificate	4 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Lane, Roman Catholic

1434

4 January 1904

Andrew Frederick Cruickshank
Christina Beatrice Jeune

Andrew Cruickshank
Christina Beatrice Jeune
💍 1904/3598

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Dressmaker

35
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 years
all her life

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

04/374

Rev. Walter Welsh, Church of England

No	1434
Date of Notice	4 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Frederick Cruickshank	Christina Beatrice Jeune
BDM Match (82%)	Andrew Cruickshank	Christina Beatrice Jeune
	💍 1904/3598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Dressmaker
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	all her life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	04/374
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Welsh, Church of England

1435

14 January 1904

Thomas Chrisp
Sophia Susannah Parker Marr
formerly Wells

Thomas Chrisp
Sophia Susannah Parker Marr
💍 1904/2971

Widower
Widow

Hand Agent

66
36

Gisborne
Gisborne

30 years
16 years

Residence of Sophia Susannah Parker Marr, Grey Street, Gisborne

04/1955

14 January 1904

Rev. James Gillies Paterson, Presbyterian Church

No	1435
Date of Notice	14 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Chrisp	Sophia Susannah Parker Marr formerly Wells
	💍 1904/2971
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Hand Agent
Age	66	36
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	30 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Sophia Susannah Parker Marr, Grey Street, Gisborne
Folio	04/1955
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Gillies Paterson, Presbyterian Church

1436

18 January 1904

Walter Graham Bayley
Sarah Hogg

Walter Braham Bayley
Sarah Hogg
💍 1904/2972

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Waitress

27
24

Te Haraka, Poverty Bay
Gisborne, Poverty Bay

8 years
10 months

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

04/1956

18 January 1904

Rev. James Gillies Paterson, Presbyterian Church

No	1436
Date of Notice	18 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Graham Bayley	Sarah Hogg
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Braham Bayley	Sarah Hogg
	💍 1904/2972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Waitress
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Te Haraka, Poverty Bay	Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	8 years	10 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	04/1956
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Gillies Paterson, Presbyterian Church

1437

23 January 1904

Joseph Paterson
Mabel Hooper

Joseph Patterson
Mabel Hooper
💍 1904/3474

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

38
22

Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Patutahi, Poverty Bay

9 years
all her life

Residence of Mr. Robert Hepburn, Patutahi Valley, Patutahi

04/240

23 January 1904

Rev. Robert Gardner, Presbyterian Church

No	1437
Date of Notice	23 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Paterson	Mabel Hooper
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph Patterson	Mabel Hooper
	💍 1904/3474
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Patutahi, Poverty Bay	Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	9 years	all her life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Robert Hepburn, Patutahi Valley, Patutahi
Folio	04/240
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Gardner, Presbyterian Church

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).