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 643

District of Hawera Quarter ending 30 September 1904 Registrar A. Arthur

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

525

25 July 1904

Walter Smith
Lilian Dewar White

Walter Smith
Lilian Drewar White
💍 1904/2886

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager

25
19

Le Roti
Normanby

1 year
1 year

Residence of James Laidlaw, Normanby

04/3937

Mother

25 July 1904

Rev. Jno. E. Bertram, Hawera

No	525
Date of Notice	25 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Smith	Lilian Dewar White
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Smith	Lilian Drewar White
	💍 1904/2886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Le Roti	Normanby
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of James Laidlaw, Normanby
Folio	04/3937
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	25 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jno. E. Bertram, Hawera

526

25 July 1904

James Alexander Maule
Emily William Shute

James Alexander Maule
Emily Milham
💍 1904/2905

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
19

Whakamara
Whakamara

4 days
19 years

Residence of Elizabeth William, Whakamara

04/3933

Mother

25 July 1904

Rev. J. A. Jacob, Hawera

No	526
Date of Notice	25 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Maule	Emily William Shute
BDM Match (76%)	James Alexander Maule	Emily Milham
	💍 1904/2905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Whakamara	Whakamara
Length of Residence	4 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Elizabeth William, Whakamara
Folio	04/3933
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	25 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Jacob, Hawera

527

26 July 1904

Henry Mudgeway Adamson
Edith Kate Spindler

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
24

Stoney Creek
Hawera

4 days
4 days

Church of England, Hawera

04/3932

26 July 1904

Rev. J. A. Jacob, Hawera

No	527
Date of Notice	26 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Mudgeway Adamson	Edith Kate Spindler
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Stoney Creek	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hawera
Folio	04/3932
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Jacob, Hawera

528

28 July 1904

George Brisco
Helena Agnes Startup

George Brisco
Helena Agnes Startup
💍 1904/2887

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
23

Normanby
Normanby

24 years
11 years

Presbyterian Church, Normanby

04/3938

28 July 1904

Rev. Jno. E. Bertram, Hawera

No	528
Date of Notice	28 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brisco	Helena Agnes Startup
	💍 1904/2887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Normanby	Normanby
Length of Residence	24 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Normanby
Folio	04/3938
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jno. E. Bertram, Hawera

529

6 August 1904

Frederick Herbert Howard
Ethel Maud Graham

Frederick Herbert Howard
Ethel Maud Graham
💍 1904/2906

Bachelor
Spinster

Stable Keeper

23
21

Hawera
Hawera

2 years
2 years

Church of England, Hawera

04/3934

6 August 1904

Rev. J. A. Jacob, Hawera

No	529
Date of Notice	6 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Herbert Howard	Ethel Maud Graham
	💍 1904/2906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stable Keeper
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hawera
Folio	04/3934
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Jacob, Hawera

530

8 August 1904

Charles Joseph Preston
Isabel Elizabeth Davies

Charles Joseph Preston
Isabel Elizabeth Davies
💍 1904/2888

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
31

Otakeho
Normanby

7 days
14 days

Residence of C. Davis, Normanby

04/3939

8 August 1904

Rev. Jno. E. Bertram, Hawera

No	530
Date of Notice	8 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Joseph Preston	Isabel Elizabeth Davies
	💍 1904/2888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Otakeho	Normanby
Length of Residence	7 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Residence of C. Davis, Normanby
Folio	04/3939
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jno. E. Bertram, Hawera

531

23 August 1904

George Henry Blackwell
Lily Beatrice Gane

George Henry Blackwell
Lily Beatrice Gane
💍 1904/2889

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
32

Whakamara
Manaia

4 years
5 years

Church of England, Manaia

04/3940

23 August 1904

Rev. H. J. Paurisley, Manaia

No	531
Date of Notice	23 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Blackwell	Lily Beatrice Gane
	💍 1904/2889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Whakamara	Manaia
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Manaia
Folio	04/3940
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Paurisley, Manaia

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).