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 559

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 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

11 July 1904

John Thomas Hamilton
Christina Milne Postlewaight

Widower
Spinster

Foreman
Domestic duties

36
23

Thames
Thames

2 days
23 years

At the house of Mrs Milne, Nautahi

04/3892

13 July 1904

Rev. J. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

No	37
Date of Notice	11 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Hamilton	Christina Milne Postlewaight
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Foreman	Domestic duties
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	23 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs Milne, Nautahi
Folio	04/3892
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

13 July 1904

Peter Anderson
Eliza Halsall

Peter Anderson
Eliza Kelsall
💍 1904/62

Widower
Widow

None
Domestic duties

76
52

Thames
Thames

2 years
2 days

At the office of the Registrar, Thames

04/3884

14 July 1904

William A. Potts, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	13 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Anderson	Eliza Halsall
BDM Match (92%)	Peter Anderson	Eliza Kelsall
	💍 1904/62
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	None	Domestic duties
Age	76	52
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	2 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Thames
Folio	04/3884
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1904
Officiating Minister	William A. Potts, Registrar

26 July 1904

James Herbert Hindman
Blanche Helena Ardern

James Herbert Hindman
Blanche Elenor Ardern
💍 1904/2735

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic duties

24
24

Thames
Thames

24 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

04/3888

27 July 1904

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	26 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Herbert Hindman	Blanche Helena Ardern
BDM Match (91%)	James Herbert Hindman	Blanche Elenor Ardern
	💍 1904/2735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	04/3888
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

28 July 1904

Thomas Egon Patterson
Beatrice Patterson

Widower
Spinster

Contractor
None

37
27

Thames
Thames

3 days
27 years

At the house of Mr Patterson, Hauraki Road, Thames

04/3895

30 July 1904

Rev. J. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

No	40
Date of Notice	28 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Egon Patterson	Beatrice Patterson
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	None
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr Patterson, Hauraki Road, Thames
Folio	04/3895
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

29 July 1904

William Newell Butter
Winifred Gray Lawlor

Newell William Butler Lusk
Winifred Gray Lawlor
💍 1904/2752

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent
None

29
23

Thames
Thames

5 days
23 years

Church of England, Mary Street, Thames

04/3881

29 July 1904

Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	29 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Newell Butter	Winifred Gray Lawlor
BDM Match (65%)	Newell William Butler Lusk	Winifred Gray Lawlor
	💍 1904/2752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent	None
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	04/3881
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

2 August 1904

William Blake
Elizabeth Mills

William Blake
Elizabeth Mills
💍 1904/2736

Widower
Spinster

Blacksmith
None

45
31

Matatoke
Matatoke

3 days
3 days

At the house of Mr Maskwell, Matatoke, Thames

04/3889

3 August 1904

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	42
Date of Notice	2 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Blake	Elizabeth Mills
	💍 1904/2736
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	None
Age	45	31
Dwelling Place	Matatoke	Matatoke
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr Maskwell, Matatoke, Thames
Folio	04/3889
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

8 August 1904

Francis Nicholas Cahill
Mabel Edmond

Francis Nicholas Cahill
Mabel Edmond
💍 1904/2734

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

23
24

Thames
Thames

2 days
24 years

Church of Christ, Pollen Street, Thames

04/3887

10 August 1904

Samuel A. Hayter, Church of Christ

No	43
Date of Notice	8 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Nicholas Cahill	Mabel Edmond
	💍 1904/2734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	04/3887
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Samuel A. Hayter, 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 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).