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 549

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar William M. Ross

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

4 January 1904

Alfred James Proctor
Hannah Aubury

Alfred James Procter
Hannah Aubury
💍 1904/3559

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

27 years
21 years

Thames
Thames

5 days
21 years

Baptist Sunday School, Willoughby Street, Thames

04/334

5 January 1904

Rev. W. A. Williams, Baptist

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Proctor	Hannah Aubury
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred James Procter	Hannah Aubury
	💍 1904/3559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Sunday School, Willoughby Street, Thames
Folio	04/334
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Williams, Baptist

11 January 1904

James McCleary
Ellen Kate Davies

James McCleary Smith
Ellen Kate Davies
💍 1904/3562

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder
Domestic Duties

29 years
25 years

Thames
Thames

3 days
25 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Mackay Street, Thames

04/337

13 January 1904

Rev. R. Taylor, Wesleyan Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	11 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McCleary	Ellen Kate Davies
BDM Match (85%)	James McCleary Smith	Ellen Kate Davies
	💍 1904/3562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder	Domestic Duties
Age	29 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	04/337
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Taylor, Wesleyan Methodist

20 January 1904

Harry Derecourt McAmich
Hilda May

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27 years
24 years

Tararu
Tararu

28 days
24 years

Springfield Farm House, Tararu

04/325

26 January 1904

Rev. R. Wylie, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	20 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Derecourt McAmich	Hilda May
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Tararu	Tararu
Length of Residence	28 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Springfield Farm House, Tararu
Folio	04/325
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Wylie, Presbyterian

6 February 1904

Richard Edward Hay
Anna Isabella Gibb

Richard Edward Hay
Anna Isabella Gibb
💍 1904/3563

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

21 years
21 years

Thames
Thames

7 months
21 years

Wesleyan Church, Pollen Street, Thames

04/338

8 February 1904

Rev. R. Taylor, Wesleyan Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	6 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Edward Hay	Anna Isabella Gibb
	💍 1904/3563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	21 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	04/338
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Taylor, Wesleyan Methodist

8 February 1904

Maui
Dave Utuuku

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35 years
27 years

Kirikiri
Kirikiri

30 years
27 years

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

04/327

8 February 1904

Charles Bart Bartlett, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

No	5
Date of Notice	8 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maui	Dave Utuuku
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Kirikiri	Kirikiri
Length of Residence	30 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Folio	04/327
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Charles Bart Bartlett, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

12 February 1904

Robert Anderson Buchanan
Lavinia Pieta

Robert Anderson
Lavinia Peita
💍 1904/3550

Widower
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic Duties

48 years
24 years

Thames
Thames

7 days
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames

04/326

12 February 1904

Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	12 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Anderson Buchanan	Lavinia Pieta
BDM Match (74%)	Robert Anderson	Lavinia Peita
	💍 1904/3550
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic Duties
Age	48 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames
Folio	04/326
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

15 February 1904

Thomas Alfred Dudley
Mary Smith

Thomas Alfred Dudley
Elizabeth Mary Smith
💍 1904/3555

Thomas Warnock Bailey
May Smith
💍 1905/5959

Charles Ray Buffett
Mary Smith
💍 1904/943

Bachelor
Spinster

Driller
Domestic Duties

31 years
27 years

40 days

No	7
Date of Notice	15 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Dudley	Mary Smith
BDM Match (75%)	Thomas Alfred Dudley	Elizabeth Mary Smith
	💍 1904/3555
BDM Match (71%)	Thomas Warnock Bailey	May Smith
	💍 1905/5959
BDM Match (60%)	Charles Ray Buffett	Mary Smith
	💍 1904/943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driller	Domestic Duties
Age	31 years	27 years
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence	40 days
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

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).