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 699

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar Sydney Henry James

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

7 January 1904

Walter Brewer
Ethel Wade

Walter Brewer
Ethel Wade
💍 1904/3157

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand

20
22

Stratford
Stratford

18 months
18 months

Residence of Joseph Wade, Stratford

04/415

Harry Brewer, Father

7 January 1904

Rev. J. R. B. Woolloxall, Primitive Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Brewer	Ethel Wade
	💍 1904/3157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Joseph Wade, Stratford
Folio	04/415
Consent	Harry Brewer, Father
Date of Certificate	7 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. B. Woolloxall, Primitive Methodist

22 January 1904

Harold Temple White
Marguerite Amy Dichbon

Harold Temple White
Marguerite Amy Tichlow
💍 1904/3180

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

22
23

Opunake
Stratford

7 months
1 month

Wesleyan Church, Stratford

04/422

22 January 1904

Rev. J. A. White, Wesleyan

No	2
Date of Notice	22 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Temple White	Marguerite Amy Dichbon
BDM Match (93%)	Harold Temple White	Marguerite Amy Tichlow
	💍 1904/3180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Stratford
Length of Residence	7 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Stratford
Folio	04/422
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. White, Wesleyan

27 January 1904

Robert Shepherd
Amy Pike

Robert Shepherd
Amy Pike
💍 1904/3161

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

26
22

Stratford
Stratford

8 weeks
6 weeks

Office of the Registrar, Stratford

04/427

27 January 1904

S. H. James, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	27 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Shepherd	Amy Pike
	💍 1904/3161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	8 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Stratford
Folio	04/427
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1904
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar

1 February 1904

Arthur James Brett
Jessie Coleman

Arthur James Brett
Jessie Coleman
💍 1904/3162

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
22

Ngaire
Ngaire

4 1/2 years
19 years

Office of the Registrar, Stratford

04/428

1 February 1904

S. H. James, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	1 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Brett	Jessie Coleman
	💍 1904/3162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Ngaire	Ngaire
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Stratford
Folio	04/428
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1904
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar

1 February 1904

Thomas Roberts
Edith Best

Thomas Roberts
Edith Best
💍 1904/3168

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
19

Stratford
Stratford

5 years
9 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford

04/416

Frederick Best, Father

1 February 1904

Rev. J. Clover, Primitive Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	1 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Roberts	Edith Best
	💍 1904/3168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	04/416
Consent	Frederick Best, Father
Date of Certificate	1 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Clover, Primitive Methodist

9 February 1904

John Edward James Leydon
Mary McKenzie

John Edward James Leyden
Mary McKenzie
💍 1904/3158

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

26
25

Auckland
Stratford

26 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

04/424

9 February 1904

Rev. P. Tracey, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	9 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward James Leydon	Mary McKenzie
BDM Match (98%)	John Edward James Leyden	Mary McKenzie
	💍 1904/3158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Stratford
Length of Residence	26 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	04/424
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Tracey, Roman Catholic

13 February 1904

Frank Pearce
Lilian Eveline Stone

Frank Preece
Lilian Evelyn Stone
💍 1904/3181

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
21

Stratford
Stratford

6 years
15 months

Residence of Thomas Pearce, Pembroke Road, Stratford

04/423

13 February 1904

Rev. J. A. Rodger, Wesleyan

No	7
Date of Notice	13 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Pearce	Lilian Eveline Stone
BDM Match (83%)	Frank Preece	Lilian Evelyn Stone
	💍 1904/3181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	6 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Pearce, Pembroke Road, Stratford
Folio	04/423
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rodger, Wesleyan

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).