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 554

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1904 Registrar William M. 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

2 April 1904

Frederick Alexander Hunton
Annie Maud Hicatt

Frederick Alexander Hanlen
Annie Maud Hicult
💍 1904/1080

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

26
20

Thames
Thames

3 days
1 year

Primitive Methodist Church, Mackay Street, Thames

04/2062

William Hooper, father of Annie Maud Hicatt

4 April 1904

Rev. S. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

No	20
Date of Notice	2 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Alexander Hunton	Annie Maud Hicatt
BDM Match (88%)	Frederick Alexander Hanlen	Annie Maud Hicult
	💍 1904/1080
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	04/2062
Consent	William Hooper, father of Annie Maud Hicatt
Date of Certificate	4 April 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

5 April 1904

Peter Neilson Schmidt
Margaret McAllister

Peter Neilson Schmidt
Margaret McAllister
💍 1904/1056

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

30
19

Thames
Thames

11 years
14 years

In the Office of the Registrar, Thames

04/2076

John McAllister, father of Margaret McAllister

5 April 1904

William M. Potts, Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	5 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Neilson Schmidt	Margaret McAllister
	💍 1904/1056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	11 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar, Thames
Folio	04/2076
Consent	John McAllister, father of Margaret McAllister
Date of Certificate	5 April 1904
Officiating Minister	William M. Potts, Registrar

6 April 1904

James Homeoeli Townsend
Amy Adeline Townsend

James Hancock
Amy Adaline Townsend
💍 1904/1081

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookmaker
Domestic duties

38
21

Thames
Thames

9 years
21 years

In the residence of Mr. M. Townsend, Mary Street, Thames

04/2063

6 April 1904

Rev. S. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	6 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Homeoeli Townsend	Amy Adeline Townsend
BDM Match (65%)	James Hancock	Amy Adaline Townsend
	💍 1904/1081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookmaker	Domestic duties
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	9 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr. M. Townsend, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	04/2063
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

6 April 1904

Albert Percy Howe
Alice Elizabeth Kelly

Albert Percy Howe
Alice Elizabeth Kelly
💍 1904/1057

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

23
16

Thames
Thames

23 years
2 years

At the Office of the Registrar, Thames

04/2077

Sarah Jane Kelly, mother of Alice Elizabeth Kelly

6 April 1904

William M. Potts, Registrar

No	23
Date of Notice	6 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Percy Howe	Alice Elizabeth Kelly
	💍 1904/1057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar, Thames
Folio	04/2077
Consent	Sarah Jane Kelly, mother of Alice Elizabeth Kelly
Date of Certificate	6 April 1904
Officiating Minister	William M. Potts, Registrar

7 April 1904

Alexander Richardson
Mary Ann McManaway

Alexander Richardson
Mary Ann McNamara
💍 1904/1069

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

26
28

Thames
Thames

8 years
18 months

In the house of J. Loft, Mackay Street, Thames

04/2058

7 April 1904

The Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	24
Date of Notice	7 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Richardson	Mary Ann McManaway
BDM Match (89%)	Alexander Richardson	Mary Ann McNamara
	💍 1904/1069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 years	18 months
Marriage Place	In the house of J. Loft, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	04/2058
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1904
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

14 April 1904

Arthur John Brideron
Flora Elizabeth Mutton

Arthur John Brideson
Flora Elizabeth Mutton
💍 1904/1063

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach driver
Domestic duties

23
20

Thames
Thames

3 days
22 years

In the house of Mrs. Rowe, Monatairi, Thames

04/2053

14 April 1904

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	14 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Brideron	Flora Elizabeth Mutton
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur John Brideson	Flora Elizabeth Mutton
	💍 1904/1063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach driver	Domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Rowe, Monatairi, Thames
Folio	04/2053
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

25 April 1904

Thomas Hunter Crosbie
Bella Ethel Algie

Thomas Hunter Crosbie
Bella Ethel Algie
💍 1904/1065

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
21

Thames
Puriri

25 years
21 years

In the house of Mrs. Wright, Puriri

04/2054

25 April 1904

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	25 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hunter Crosbie	Bella Ethel Algie
	💍 1904/1065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Puriri
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Wright, Puriri
Folio	04/2054
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1904
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 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).