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 1171

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

101

8 February 1904

Brendon Smith
Alice Maud Maginnity

Brendan Quirk
Alice Maude Maginnity
💍 1904/3815

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
26 years

Sacred Heart Church

04/846

8 February 1904

Rev J. R. Holley

No	101
Date of Notice	8 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Brendon Smith	Alice Maud Maginnity
BDM Match (78%)	Brendan Quirk	Alice Maude Maginnity
	💍 1904/3815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church
Folio	04/846
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. Holley

102

8 February 1904

John Thomas Alexander Leopold Williams
Elsie Gibbs

John Thomas Alexander Leopold Williams
Elsie Gibbs
💍 1904/690

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

28
21

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
15 years

St. Pauls pro Cathedral Church, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

04/1590

8 February 1904

Rev J. G. B. Kay

No	102
Date of Notice	8 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Alexander Leopold Williams	Elsie Gibbs
	💍 1904/690
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls pro Cathedral Church, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	04/1590
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J. G. B. Kay

103

9 February 1904

John William Thurston
Ellen Matilda Taylor

John William Thurston
Ellen Matilda Taylor
💍 1904/3829

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
7 days

St. Josephs Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

04/837

9 February 1904

Rev T. O'Shea

No	103
Date of Notice	9 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Thurston	Ellen Matilda Taylor
	💍 1904/3829
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	04/837
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev T. O'Shea

104

9 February 1904

Edgar Elliott Carew
Rebecca Bowman

Edgar Elliot Carew
Rebecca Bowman
💍 1904/3256

Widower
Widow

Engineer

41
42

Petone
Petone

8 years
22 years

St. Augustines Church

04/766

9 February 1904

Rev J. D. Russell

No	104
Date of Notice	9 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Elliott Carew	Rebecca Bowman
BDM Match (97%)	Edgar Elliot Carew	Rebecca Bowman
	💍 1904/3256
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Engineer
Age	41	42
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	8 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church
Folio	04/766
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J. D. Russell

105

9 February 1904

Erskine Bowman
Agnes Julia Fletcher

Erskine Boumar
Agnes Julia Fletcher
💍 1904/3295

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
17 years

Residence of Mr. De Castro, Kelburne

04/857

9 February 1904

Rev Geo Bond

No	105
Date of Notice	9 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Erskine Bowman	Agnes Julia Fletcher
BDM Match (93%)	Erskine Boumar	Agnes Julia Fletcher
	💍 1904/3295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. De Castro, Kelburne
Folio	04/857
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Bond

106

9 February 1904

Bryce Alexander Barker
Lucy Downing

Bryce Alexander Barker
Lucy Downing
💍 1904/3257

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
22

Wallaceville, Wellington
Wallaceville, Wellington

3 days
Life

St. Johns Church, Trentham

04/767

9 February 1904

Rev C. J. Smith

No	106
Date of Notice	9 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bryce Alexander Barker	Lucy Downing
	💍 1904/3257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Wallaceville, Wellington	Wallaceville, Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church, Trentham
Folio	04/767
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev C. J. Smith

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).