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 936

District of Foxton Quarter ending 31 December 1904 Registrar A. D. Clemett

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

8 October 1904

Robt Ord Goddin
Gertrude Jane Lee

Robert Ord Goddin
Gertrude Jane Lee
💍 1904/5927

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29
24

Foxton
Foxton

4 months
2 years

Office of the Deputy Registrar, Foxton; Private House

04/5726

8 October 1904

A. D. Clemett, Registrar

No	42
Date of Notice	8 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robt Ord Goddin	Gertrude Jane Lee
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Ord Goddin	Gertrude Jane Lee
	💍 1904/5927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	4 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Deputy Registrar, Foxton; Private House
Folio	04/5726
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1904
Officiating Minister	A. D. Clemett, Registrar

15 October 1904

Archibald Reginald Osborne
Esther Withers

Archibald Reginald Osborne
Esther Withers
💍 1904/5954

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

38
18

Foxton
Foxton

23 years
5 years

Methodist Church, Mrs Trunks

04/5730

Bruce Withers, Episcopal

15 October 1904

Rev. Walter Harris

No	43
Date of Notice	15 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Reginald Osborne	Esther Withers
	💍 1904/5954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	38	18
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	23 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Mrs Trunks
Folio	04/5730
Consent	Bruce Withers, Episcopal
Date of Certificate	15 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Harris

29 October 1904

Edward Arthur Boley
Alice Maude Mason

Edward Arthur Coley
Alice Maud Mason
💍 1904/5955

Divorced
Divorced

Flaxmiller

32
26

Foxton
Foxton

30 years
3 years

Private House of Bridegroom

04/5731

29 October 1904

Rev. Walter Harris

No	44
Date of Notice	29 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Arthur Boley	Alice Maude Mason
BDM Match (94%)	Edward Arthur Coley	Alice Maud Mason
	💍 1904/5955
Condition	Divorced	Divorced
Profession	Flaxmiller
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	30 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Private House of Bridegroom
Folio	04/5731
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Harris

19 December 1904

Arthur Orlando Oliver
Margaret Leadell

Arthur Orlando Oliver
Margaret Liddell
💍 1904/5946

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

22
24

Foxton
Foxton

12 months
24 years

Rev. Duncan's Private House

04/5728

19 December 1904

Rev. Jas. Duncan

No	45
Date of Notice	19 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Orlando Oliver	Margaret Leadell
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur Orlando Oliver	Margaret Liddell
	💍 1904/5946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	12 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Rev. Duncan's Private House
Folio	04/5728
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Duncan

22 December 1904

Walter Everett Walker
Violet Kate Ashmore

Walter Everett Walker
Violet Kate Ashmore
💍 1904/6876

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
19

Foxton
Foxton

4 years

Private House of Bride's Mother, All Saints Church, Foxton

04/7027

Kate E. Spiers, Mother, Episcopal

22 December 1904

Rev. Walter Harris

No	46
Date of Notice	22 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Everett Walker	Violet Kate Ashmore
	💍 1904/6876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	Private House of Bride's Mother, All Saints Church, Foxton
Folio	04/7027
Consent	Kate E. Spiers, Mother, Episcopal
Date of Certificate	22 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Harris

24 December 1904

Charles Redfern
Violet Maud Brown

Charles Redfern
Violet Maud Brown
💍 1904/5953

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

36
21

Rockhampton, NSW
Foxton

3 months
21 years

Private House of Rev. Duncan

04/5729

24 December 1904

Rev. James Duncan

No	47
Date of Notice	24 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Redfern	Violet Maud Brown
	💍 1904/5953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Rockhampton, NSW	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Private House of Rev. Duncan
Folio	04/5729
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Duncan

28 December 1904

John Walker
Anna Maria Blain

John Walker
Ann Maria Blain
💍 1904/5935

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
24

Oroua Bridge
Oroua Bridge

2 years

Office of the Registrar

04/5727

28 December 1904

A. D. Clemett, Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	28 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walker	Anna Maria Blain
BDM Match (97%)	John Walker	Ann Maria Blain
	💍 1904/5935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Oroua Bridge	Oroua Bridge
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	04/5727
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1904
Officiating Minister	A. D. Clemett, Registrar

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).