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 1151

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar FREDERICK WILLIAM MANSFIELD

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 January 1904

Basil Maples Taylor
Bertha Charlotte Amelia Wall

Basil Maples Taylor
Bertha Charlotte Amelia Wall
💍 1904/3263

Bachelor
Spinster

Missionary Church of England

27
21

Wellington
Paremata

3 days
Life

St Ann's Church

04/773

4 January 1904

Rev J. D. Russell

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Basil Maples Taylor	Bertha Charlotte Amelia Wall
	💍 1904/3263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Missionary Church of England
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Paremata
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	St Ann's Church
Folio	04/773
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J. D. Russell

4 January 1904

Thomas Solomon
Sarah Davies

Thomas Thomson
Sarah Davies
💍 1904/3782

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Waitress

28
26

Wellington
Wellington

8 days
5 years

St Peters Church Willis Street Wellington

04/738

4 January 1904

Rev G. P. Davys

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Solomon	Sarah Davies
BDM Match (86%)	Thomas Thomson	Sarah Davies
	💍 1904/3782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Waitress
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	04/738
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev G. P. Davys

4 January 1904

Arthur William Sievers
Margaret Ann Longhurst

Arthur William Sievers
Margaret Ann Longhurst
💍 1904/3811

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

26
19

Makara
Mawitai

18 years
1 year

Residence of Mr A. Sievers Makara

04/725

Harry Longhurst, Father

4 January 1904

Rev Thos Walsh

No	3
Date of Notice	4 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Sievers	Margaret Ann Longhurst
	💍 1904/3811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Makara	Mawitai
Length of Residence	18 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr A. Sievers Makara
Folio	04/725
Consent	Harry Longhurst, Father
Date of Certificate	4 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev Thos Walsh

4 January 1904

William Patrick Gregan
Hannah Moriarty

William Patrick Gregan
Hannah Moriarty
💍 1904/3820

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Waitress

29
26

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

12 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt

04/850

4 January 1904

Rev J. J. Lane

No	4
Date of Notice	4 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Patrick Gregan	Hannah Moriarty
	💍 1904/3820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Waitress
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt
Folio	04/850
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. Lane

4 January 1904

William Gooch
Harriett Bratt

William Gooch
Harriett Pratt
💍 1904/3331

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
3 1/2 years

Residence of Mr G. Gooch 2 Emmett St Wellington

04/793

4 January 1904

Rev W. Striver

No	5
Date of Notice	4 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gooch	Harriett Bratt
BDM Match (96%)	William Gooch	Harriett Pratt
	💍 1904/3331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. Gooch 2 Emmett St Wellington
Folio	04/793
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Striver

5 January 1904

Henry James Stanley
Florence Hannah Dyer

Henry James Stanley
Florence Hannah Dyer
💍 1904/3759

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

32
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
1 Week

St Peters Church Wellington

04/739

5 January 1904

Rev E. W. S. Maclaverty

No	6
Date of Notice	5 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Stanley	Florence Hannah Dyer
	💍 1904/3759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	1 Week
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Wellington
Folio	04/739
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev E. W. S. Maclaverty

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 1908. 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).