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 809

District of Waipawa Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar Samuel Johnson

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

682

2 February 1904

Samuel Robert Veity
Helen Ireland

Samuel Robert Vesty
Helen Ireland
💍 1904/3670

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

27
21

Waipawa
Waipawa

3 days
21 years

St. Peter's Church

04/506

2 February 1904

Rev. H. P. Cowx, M.A.

No	682
Date of Notice	2 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Robert Veity	Helen Ireland
BDM Match (97%)	Samuel Robert Vesty	Helen Ireland
	💍 1904/3670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	04/506
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. P. Cowx, M.A.

683

16 February 1904

John Joseph Lawton
Mary Kennedy

John Joseph Lawton
Mary Kennedy
💍 1904/3672

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

33
29

Kaikora
Kaikora

3 days
20 years

Residence Mrs. Kennedy

04/508

16 February 1904

Rev. G. K. Stowell

No	683
Date of Notice	16 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Lawton	Mary Kennedy
	💍 1904/3672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Kaikora	Kaikora
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence Mrs. Kennedy
Folio	04/508
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Stowell

684

25 February 1904

George Burkin, junior
Katherine Turfrey

George Burkin Junior
Katherine Turfrey
💍 1904/3671

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

29
31

Wakarara
Blackburn

29 years
29 years

Office of Registrar

04/507

29 February 1904

Samuel Johnson, Registrar

No	684
Date of Notice	25 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Burkin, junior	Katherine Turfrey
BDM Match (95%)	George Burkin Junior	Katherine Turfrey
	💍 1904/3671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Wakarara	Blackburn
Length of Residence	29 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar
Folio	04/507
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Samuel Johnson, Registrar

685

25 March 1904

Albert Fletcher
Lillian Rachel Foar

Albert Fletcher
Lilian Rachel Doar
💍 1904/3673

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
25

Wakarara
Blackburn

27 years
10 years

Mrs. Fletcher's residence

04/509

25 March 1904

Rev. F. W. Martin

No	685
Date of Notice	25 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Fletcher	Lillian Rachel Foar
BDM Match (95%)	Albert Fletcher	Lilian Rachel Doar
	💍 1904/3673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wakarara	Blackburn
Length of Residence	27 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. Fletcher's residence
Folio	04/509
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Martin

686

31 March 1904

George Town Floyd
Catherine Neville Anderson

George Down Floyd
Catherine Neville Anderson
💍 1904/1242

Bachelor
Widow

Blacksmith
Domestic Duties

23
28

Hampden
Hampden

23 years
22 years

St. Peter's Church

04/2239

31 March 1904

Rev. H. P. Cowx, M.A.

No	686
Date of Notice	31 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Town Floyd	Catherine Neville Anderson
BDM Match (97%)	George Down Floyd	Catherine Neville Anderson
	💍 1904/1242
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Duties
Age	23	28
Dwelling Place	Hampden	Hampden
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	04/2239
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. P. Cowx, M.A.

687

7 January 1904

George William Bakerfree
Maggie Castlemain Percy

George William Oakenfull
Maggie Castlemaine Percy
💍 1904/3669

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic

26
18

Waipawa
Waipawa

26 years
18 years

St. Peter's Church

04/505

H. M. Percy, father

7 February 1904

Rev. H. P. Cowx, M.A.

No	687
Date of Notice	7 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Bakerfree	Maggie Castlemain Percy
BDM Match (88%)	George William Oakenfull	Maggie Castlemaine Percy
	💍 1904/3669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	26 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	04/505
Consent	H. M. Percy, father
Date of Certificate	7 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. P. Cowx, M.A.

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).