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 552

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar William A. 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

18 March 1904

Herbert Dixon Meher
Lavinia Taylor

Herbert Dixon McIver
Maria Lavinia Taylor
💍 1904/3556

Herbert Rayner
Annie Taylor
💍 1904/1720

Bachelor
Spinster

House Dresser
Domestic Duties

23 years
24 years

Piako Thames
Thames

3 months
24 years

Church of England, Thames

04/332

18 March 1904

Rev. J. Wallace, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	18 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Dixon Meher	Lavinia Taylor
BDM Match (78%)	Herbert Dixon McIver	Maria Lavinia Taylor
	💍 1904/3556
BDM Match (61%)	Herbert Rayner	Annie Taylor
	💍 1904/1720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	House Dresser	Domestic Duties
Age	23 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Piako Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Thames
Folio	04/332
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wallace, Church of England

19 March 1904

Edwin Robertson Gibbons
Mary Ann Lewes

Edwin Robertson Gibbons
Mary Ann Lewes
💍 1904/3557

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Dressmaker

30 years
25 years

Thames
Thames

30 years
25 years

Church of England, Mary Street, Thames

04/333

19 March 1904

Rev. J. Wallace, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	19 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Robertson Gibbons	Mary Ann Lewes
	💍 1904/3557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	30 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	30 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	04/333
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wallace, Church of England

19 March 1904

Edwin Doidge
Edith Emily Lang

Edwin Doidge
Edith Emily Lang
💍 1904/3561

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

22 years
20 years

Thames
Thames

22 years
21 years

Baptist Church, Mary Street, Thames

04/336

19 March 1904

Rev. J. A. Williams, Baptist

No	16
Date of Notice	19 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Doidge	Edith Emily Lang
	💍 1904/3561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	04/336
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Williams, Baptist

19 March 1904

William John Dibner
Emma Mary Ross

William John Turner
Emma Mary Ross
💍 1904/1062

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

24 years
22 years

Thames
Thames

3 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Thames

04/2052

19 March 1904

Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	19 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Dibner	Emma Mary Ross
BDM Match (92%)	William John Turner	Emma Mary Ross
	💍 1904/1062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	04/2052
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

23 March 1904

Arnold Saytor
Angelina Lukey

Arnold Taylor
Angelina Lukey
💍 1904/1078

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic Duties

22 years
22 years

Thames
Thames

22 years
22 years

In the house of Benjamin Lukey, Mackay Street, Thames

04/2060

23 March 1904

Rev. R. Hayber, Wesleyan Methodist

No	18
Date of Notice	23 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Saytor	Angelina Lukey
BDM Match (92%)	Arnold Taylor	Angelina Lukey
	💍 1904/1078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic Duties
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Benjamin Lukey, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	04/2060
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Hayber, Wesleyan Methodist

26 March 1904

Edward Henry Rea
Lydia Emilie Henderson

Edward Henry Rea
Margaret Lydia Annie Henderson
💍 1904/3588

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Tailoress

27 years
20 years

Thames
Thames

27 years
20 years

Church of Christ, Pollen Street, Thames

04/341

David Henderson, father of Lydia Emilie Henderson

26 March 1904

Edmund M. Gough, Church of Christ

No	19
Date of Notice	26 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Rea	Lydia Emilie Henderson
BDM Match (78%)	Edward Henry Rea	Margaret Lydia Annie Henderson
	💍 1904/3588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Tailoress
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	04/341
Consent	David Henderson, father of Lydia Emilie Henderson
Date of Certificate	26 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Edmund M. Gough, 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).