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 749

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 1904 Registrar Robert Brathwaite

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

4 July 1904

Neil Olsen
Hettie Spring

Neil Olsen
Hettie Spring
💍 1904/4809

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairying
Domestic

25
22

Hastings
Hastings

2 months
4 days

Registrar's Office

04/4008

4 July 1904

Robert Brathwaite

No	27
Date of Notice	4 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Olsen	Hettie Spring
	💍 1904/4809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairying	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	04/4008
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite

14 July 1904

Henry Seymour Bone
Margaret Moore

Henry Seymour Bone
Margaret Moore
💍 1904/4814

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner

28
24

Hastings
Hastings

5 years
11 years

Residence of Mr. J. Comrie

04/4010

14 July 1904

Rev. W. J. Comrie

No	28
Date of Notice	14 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Seymour Bone	Margaret Moore
	💍 1904/4814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Comrie
Folio	04/4010
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Comrie

19 July 1904

John William Lincoln
Catherine Jackson

John William Lincoln
Catherine Jackson
💍 1904/4813

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
29

Hastings
Hastings

7 months
1 week

Presbyterian Church

04/4009

19 July 1904

Rev. W. J. Comrie

No	29
Date of Notice	19 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Lincoln	Catherine Jackson
	💍 1904/4813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	7 months	1 week
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	04/4009
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Comrie

25 July 1904

George Edward Smith
Alice Foster

George Edward Smith
Alice Foster
💍 1904/4815

Leonard Wakefield Yarrall
Alice Foster
💍 1904/5120

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
22

Hastings
Hastings

25 years
1 week

House of George William Smith

04/4011

25 July 1904

Rev. W. J. Comrie

No	30
Date of Notice	25 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Smith	Alice Foster
	💍 1904/4815
BDM Match (60%)	Leonard Wakefield Yarrall	Alice Foster
	💍 1904/5120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	25 years	1 week
Marriage Place	House of George William Smith
Folio	04/4011
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Comrie

27 July 1904

John Troye Findlay
Gertrude Cook

John George Findlay
Gertrude Cook
💍 1904/4818

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

25
27

Havelock
Havelock

20 months
9 months

St. Luke's, Havelock

04/4014

27 July 1904

Rev. A. Gardiner

No	31
Date of Notice	27 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Troye Findlay	Gertrude Cook
BDM Match (89%)	John George Findlay	Gertrude Cook
	💍 1904/4818
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Havelock	Havelock
Length of Residence	20 months	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's, Havelock
Folio	04/4014
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Gardiner

30 July 1904

William McSaffin
Margaret Russell

William McGaffin
Margaret Russell
💍 1904/4816

William Christie
Barbara Russell
💍 1904/2423

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

32
22

Hastings
Hastings

12 years
2 weeks

House of Robert McSaffin

04/4012

30 July 1904

Rev. W. J. Comrie

No	32
Date of Notice	30 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McSaffin	Margaret Russell
BDM Match (97%)	William McGaffin	Margaret Russell
	💍 1904/4816
BDM Match (66%)	William Christie	Barbara Russell
	💍 1904/2423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	12 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Robert McSaffin
Folio	04/4012
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Comrie

9 August 1904

Harry Ernest Samuel Banks
Evaline Home

Harry Ernest Samuel Banks
Eva Susan Horne
💍 1904/4817

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Storeman
Tailoress

27
23

Hastings
Hastings

30 days
20 years

Presbyterian Church

04/4013

9 August 1904

Rev. W. J. Comrie

No	33
Date of Notice	9 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Ernest Samuel Banks	Evaline Home
BDM Match (73%)	Harry Ernest Samuel Banks	Eva Susan Horne
	💍 1904/4817
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Storeman	Tailoress
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	30 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	04/4013
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Comrie

15 August 1904

John Benjamin Ebbett
Alice Theresa Shaw

John Benjamin Ebbett
Alice Theresa Shaw
💍 1904/4799

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic

38
22

Hastings
Hastings

16 years
16 years

St. Matthew's Church

04/4016

15 August 1904

Rev. John Hobbs

No	34
Date of Notice	15 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Benjamin Ebbett	Alice Theresa Shaw
	💍 1904/4799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	16 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	04/4016
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hobbs

27 August 1904

Samuel Arthur Holes
Mabel Elizabeth Rayner

Samuel Arthur Holes
Mabel Elizabeth Rayner
💍 1904/4800

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

25
26

Hastings
Hastings

16 years
3 weeks

St. Matthew's Church

04/4017

27 August 1904

Rev. John Hobbs

No	35
Date of Notice	27 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Arthur Holes	Mabel Elizabeth Rayner
	💍 1904/4800
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	16 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	04/4017
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hobbs

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).