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 563

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1904 Registrar William H. 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

24 December 1904

John Gelbert Maskwell
Isabella Gregson Murray

John Gilbert Maxwell
Isabella Ferguson McKay
💍 1904/5813

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
21

Matatoke
Marahoe

26 years
3 years

At the house of Mr. Murray, Marahoe

04/5308

24 December 1904

Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	64
Date of Notice	24 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gelbert Maskwell	Isabella Gregson Murray
BDM Match (78%)	John Gilbert Maxwell	Isabella Ferguson McKay
	💍 1904/5813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Matatoke	Marahoe
Length of Residence	26 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Murray, Marahoe
Folio	04/5308
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

24 December 1904

James Peter McKay
Alice Emily Sawyer

James Peter McKay
Alice Emily Sawyer
💍 1904/5812

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Domestic duties

32
26

Thames
Thames

4 days
26 years

In the house of Mr. Sawyer, Thames

04/5307

27 December 1904

Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	65
Date of Notice	24 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Peter McKay	Alice Emily Sawyer
	💍 1904/5812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Domestic duties
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Sawyer, Thames
Folio	04/5307
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

29 December 1904

John Harwood Lawrence
Annie Patton

John Norwood Lawrence
Annie Patton
💍 1904/5816

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

24
21

Broken Hill, Darua
Thames

3 years
15 years

Roman Catholic Church, Thames

04/5511

29 December 1904

Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	66
Date of Notice	29 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harwood Lawrence	Annie Patton
BDM Match (95%)	John Norwood Lawrence	Annie Patton
	💍 1904/5816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Broken Hill, Darua	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	04/5511
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

29 December 1904

Charles Henry Hart Millett
Jane Elizabeth Cameron

Charles Henry Hart Willetts
Janet Elizabeth Cameron
💍 1905/4775

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

28
25

Thames
Thames

28 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Thames

05/317

29 December 1904

Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	67
Date of Notice	29 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Hart Millett	Jane Elizabeth Cameron
BDM Match (94%)	Charles Henry Hart Willetts	Janet Elizabeth Cameron
	💍 1905/4775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	28 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	05/317
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

29 December 1904

John Gayton
Ellen Nolan

John Taylor
Ellen Nolan
💍 1904/5793

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

47
52

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Thames

04/5512

29 December 1904

Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	68
Date of Notice	29 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gayton	Ellen Nolan
BDM Match (86%)	John Taylor	Ellen Nolan
	💍 1904/5793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	47	52
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	04/5512
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

31 December 1904

James Drummond
Emma Brailsford Renshaw

James Drummond
Emma Brailsford Renshaw
💍 1905/4797

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic duties

32
27

Thames
Thames

1 day
27 years

At the house of Mr. Renshaw, Thames

05/315

4 January 1905

Rev. A. Williams, Baptist

No	69
Date of Notice	31 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Drummond	Emma Brailsford Renshaw
	💍 1905/4797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	27 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Renshaw, Thames
Folio	05/315
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Williams, Baptist

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).