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 1168

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

2 February 1904

Thomas George Calam
Mary Harding

Thomas George Ealam
Mary Harding
💍 1904/4731

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

21
22

Wellington
Wellington

10 weeks
6 weeks

Registrars Office, Wellington

04/693

2 February 1904

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	90
Date of Notice	2 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas George Calam	Mary Harding
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas George Ealam	Mary Harding
	💍 1904/4731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	04/693
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1904
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

3 February 1904

Robert William Challcrass
Hilda Gillow

Robert William Shallcrass
Hilda Gillow
💍 1904/6948

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

33
31

Wellington
Westport

2 1/2 years
9 years

Church of England, Westport

03/934

3 February 1904

Rev. J. R. Dart

No	91
Date of Notice	3 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Challcrass	Hilda Gillow
BDM Match (98%)	Robert William Shallcrass	Hilda Gillow
	💍 1904/6948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Westport
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Westport
Folio	03/934
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart

4 February 1904

Percy Henry Creeping Pirani
Isabel Annie Maud Morrison

Percy Henry Crespigny Pirani
Isabel Annie Maud Morrison
💍 1904/688

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
1 day

St. Pauls Pro Cathedral, Wellington

04/1588

4 February 1904

Rev. H. J. Stealey

No	92
Date of Notice	4 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Henry Creeping Pirani	Isabel Annie Maud Morrison
BDM Match (95%)	Percy Henry Crespigny Pirani	Isabel Annie Maud Morrison
	💍 1904/688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	1 day
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	04/1588
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Stealey

4 February 1904

Petrus Tonder Felden
Australia Wahlberg

Petrus Van der Veldon
Australia Wahlberg
💍 1904/4732

Widower
Spinster

Artist

66
28

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
2 weeks

Registrars Office, Wellington

04/694

4 February 1904

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	93
Date of Notice	4 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Petrus Tonder Felden	Australia Wahlberg
BDM Match (88%)	Petrus Van der Veldon	Australia Wahlberg
	💍 1904/4732
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Artist
Age	66	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	04/694
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1904
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

5 February 1904

John Henry Hornecke
Margaret McMahon

John Henry Hancock
Margaret McMahon
💍 1904/3813

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

45
34

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
5 days

Residence of Rev. W. J. Lewis, Hill Street, Wellington

04/844

5 February 1904

Rev. W. J. Lewis

No	94
Date of Notice	5 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Hornecke	Margaret McMahon
BDM Match (87%)	John Henry Hancock	Margaret McMahon
	💍 1904/3813
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. J. Lewis, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	04/844
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Lewis

5 February 1904

James Lindsay
Rosa Emily Powell

James Lindsay
Rosa Emily Powell
💍 1904/3260

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

29
25

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
20 years

St. Thomas Church, Wellington South

04/770

5 February 1904

Rev. John Walker

No	95
Date of Notice	5 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lindsay	Rosa Emily Powell
	💍 1904/3260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church, Wellington South
Folio	04/770
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker

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).