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 637

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar James E. Semmes

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

496

12 January 1904

Daniel Jarvis Willis
Hallette Thomasine Elizabeth Hewitt

Daniel Jarvis Willis
Hallette Thomasine Elizabeth Hewitt
💍 1904/3219

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
24

Hawera
Feilding

9 months
13 years

St Columba's Church, Palmerston North

04/607

12 January 1904

Rev. C. Harper, Palmerston North

No	496
Date of Notice	12 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Jarvis Willis	Hallette Thomasine Elizabeth Hewitt
	💍 1904/3219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Feilding
Length of Residence	9 months	13 years
Marriage Place	St Columba's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	04/607
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Harper, Palmerston North

497

12 January 1904

Charles Oliver Melville
Vida Grace Simmons

Charles Oliver Melville
Vida Grace Simmons
💍 1904/3603

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
21

Hawera
Hawera

4 months
4 months

Registrar's Office

04/379

12 January 1904

The Registrar, Hawera

No	497
Date of Notice	12 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Oliver Melville	Vida Grace Simmons
	💍 1904/3603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	04/379
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1904
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Hawera

498

21 January 1904

Herbert Pearson
Alice May Carroll

Herbert Pearson
Alice May Carroll
💍 1904/3609

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairying Assistant

25
25

Hawera
Hawera

2 1/2 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church

04/384

21 January 1904

Rev. J. E. Bertram, Hawera

No	498
Date of Notice	21 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Pearson	Alice May Carroll
	💍 1904/3609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairying Assistant
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	04/384
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Bertram, Hawera

499

1 February 1904

Daniel Thomas Dwyer
Mary Helen Flynn

Daniel Thomas Dwyer
Mary Helen Flynn
💍 1904/727

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
27

Hawera
Hawera

8 years
27 years

Roman Catholic Church

04/1603

1 February 1904

Rev. Jas. McKenna

No	499
Date of Notice	1 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Thomas Dwyer	Mary Helen Flynn
	💍 1904/727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	8 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	04/1603
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. McKenna

500

6 February 1904

Alfred William Webster
Linda Marie Koch

Alfred William Webster
Linda Marie Koch
💍 1904/3610

Widower
Spinster

Banker

40
27

Hawera
Wellington

2 years
4 days

Residence of J. A. Koch

04/385

6 February 1904

Rev. J. E. Bertram, Hawera

No	500
Date of Notice	6 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Webster	Linda Marie Koch
	💍 1904/3610
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Banker
Age	40	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of J. A. Koch
Folio	04/385
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Bertram, Hawera

501

15 February 1904

Robert George Murray
Mary Ann Armstrong

Robert George Murray
Mary Ann Armstrong
💍 1904/3611

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

33
24

Hawera
Hawera

5 months
2 years

Residence of J. Armstrong

04/386

15 February 1904

Rev. J. E. Bertram, Hawera

No	501
Date of Notice	15 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Murray	Mary Ann Armstrong
	💍 1904/3611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	5 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Armstrong
Folio	04/386
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Bertram, Hawera

502

22 February 1904

Thomas Oliver Holloway
Annie Holloway

Thomas Oliver
Annie Holloway
💍 1904/3132

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

24
22

Hawera
Hawera

2 1/2 years
8 years

Residence of S. Holloway

04/387

22 February 1904

Rev. J. E. Bertram, Hawera

No	502
Date of Notice	22 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Oliver Holloway	Annie Holloway
BDM Match (80%)	Thomas Oliver	Annie Holloway
	💍 1904/3132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of S. Holloway
Folio	04/387
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Bertram, Hawera

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).