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 645

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 December 1904 Registrar J. A. Stevens

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

539

21 October 1904

Thomas William Bolloud
Hannah Sabina Appleyard

Thomas William Bolland
Hannah Sabina Appleyard
💍 1904/5847

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
25

Hawera
Hawera

17 years
25 years

Church of England, Hawera

04/5566

21 October 1904

Rev. D. A. Jacob, Hawera

No	539
Date of Notice	21 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Bolloud	Hannah Sabina Appleyard
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas William Bolland	Hannah Sabina Appleyard
	💍 1904/5847
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	17 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hawera
Folio	04/5566
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. A. Jacob, Hawera

540

24 October 1904

Herbert Edward Budby
Agnes Rebecca Colman

Herbert Edward Cudby
Agnes Rebecca Colman
💍 1904/5851

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
17

Hawera
Hawera

4 years
17 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

04/5570

Frank Colman, Father

24 October 1904

Very Rev. P. J. Power, Hawera

No	540
Date of Notice	24 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edward Budby	Agnes Rebecca Colman
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Edward Cudby	Agnes Rebecca Colman
	💍 1904/5851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	04/5570
Consent	Frank Colman, Father
Date of Certificate	24 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. P. J. Power, Hawera

541

31 October 1904

Daniel Beale
Elsie May Godfrey

Daniel Beale
Elsie May Godfrey
💍 1904/6810

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
19

Hawera
Hawera

10 years
10 years

Residence of A. Godfrey, Hawera

04/6981

A. Godfrey, father

31 October 1904

Rev. G. Porter, Hawera

No	541
Date of Notice	31 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Beale	Elsie May Godfrey
	💍 1904/6810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	19
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of A. Godfrey, Hawera
Folio	04/6981
Consent	A. Godfrey, father
Date of Certificate	31 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Porter, Hawera

542

31 October 1904

Alexander Neill
Vida Dingle

Alexander Hunter
Vivia Dingle
💍 1904/5848

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
24

Hawera
Hawera

27 years
24 years

Church of England, Hawera

04/5567

31 October 1904

Rev. D. A. Jacob, Hawera

No	542
Date of Notice	31 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Neill	Vida Dingle
BDM Match (73%)	Alexander Hunter	Vivia Dingle
	💍 1904/5848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	27 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hawera
Folio	04/5567
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. A. Jacob, Hawera

543

1 November 1904

Stephen Adamson
Emily Ann Signal

Stephen Adamson
Emily Ann Signal
💍 1904/5982

Bachelor
Spinster

Shearer

29
38

Hawera
Wanganui

12 months
38 years

Residence of D. A. Signal, Wanganui

04/5822

1 November 1904

Rev. G. E. Chapman, Wanganui

No	543
Date of Notice	1 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Adamson	Emily Ann Signal
	💍 1904/5982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shearer
Age	29	38
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Wanganui
Length of Residence	12 months	38 years
Marriage Place	Residence of D. A. Signal, Wanganui
Folio	04/5822
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Chapman, Wanganui

544

2 November 1904

William Henry Andrews
Martha Handley

William Henry Andrews
Martha Handley
💍 1904/6808

Bachelor
Spinster

Platlayer

35
36

Hawera
Hawera

4 months
8 years

Residence of D. Handley, Hawera

04/6980

2 November 1904

Rev. G. Porter, Hawera

No	544
Date of Notice	2 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Andrews	Martha Handley
	💍 1904/6808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platlayer
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of D. Handley, Hawera
Folio	04/6980
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Porter, Hawera

545

7 November 1904

William Hopkins
Annie King

William Hopkins
Annie King
💍 1904/5853

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

46
31

Hawera
Hawera

20 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

04/5571

7 November 1904

Very Rev. P. J. Power, Hawera

No	545
Date of Notice	7 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hopkins	Annie King
	💍 1904/5853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	46	31
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	04/5571
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. P. J. Power, 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).