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 1173

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

112

11 February 1904

Alfred Patrick Gorman
Margaret Mary Jame Arbuckles

Alfred Patrick Gorman
Margaret Mary Jane Arbuckles
💍 1904/3816

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
27

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
5 years

Sacred Heart Church

04/847

11 February 1904

Rev. J. R. Holley

No	112
Date of Notice	11 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Patrick Gorman	Margaret Mary Jame Arbuckles
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Patrick Gorman	Margaret Mary Jane Arbuckles
	💍 1904/3816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church
Folio	04/847
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Holley

113

11 February 1904

George Reeves Harriss
Margaret Beatty

George Reeves Harriss
Margaret Beatty
💍 1904/3830

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
15 years

St. Josephs Church, Barneke Street, Wellington

04/838

11 February 1904

Rev. Thomas O'Shea

No	113
Date of Notice	11 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Reeves Harriss	Margaret Beatty
	💍 1904/3830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Church, Barneke Street, Wellington
Folio	04/838
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas O'Shea

114

12 February 1904

Edward Johnson Hollard
Maude Harriett Hollard

Edward Johnson
Myrtle Harriett Hollard
💍 1904/3286

Widower
Spinster

Printer

33
19

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

18 months
19 years

Methodist Church

04/871

Charles Hollard, Father

12 February 1904

Rev. W. B. Marten

No	114
Date of Notice	12 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Johnson Hollard	Maude Harriett Hollard
BDM Match (73%)	Edward Johnson	Myrtle Harriett Hollard
	💍 1904/3286
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	18 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	04/871
Consent	Charles Hollard, Father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Marten

115

12 February 1904

William Marshall Brown
Emma Cordia Heidenstrom

William Marshall Brown
Emma Ovidia Heidenstrom
💍 1904/3335

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

24
17

Mitchelltown
Mitchelltown

3 months
8 years

Residence of Earls Heidenstrom, Mitchelltown

04/797

Earls Heidenstrom, Father

12 February 1904

Rev. William Shirer

No	115
Date of Notice	12 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Marshall Brown	Emma Cordia Heidenstrom
BDM Match (94%)	William Marshall Brown	Emma Ovidia Heidenstrom
	💍 1904/3335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Mitchelltown	Mitchelltown
Length of Residence	3 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Earls Heidenstrom, Mitchelltown
Folio	04/797
Consent	Earls Heidenstrom, Father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Shirer

116

13 February 1904

Percy William Barnes
Jessica May Berryman

Percy William Barnes
Jessica May Berryman
💍 1904/3336

Bachelor
Spinster

Conductor
Dressmaker

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

8 months
5 weeks

St. James Manse, Wellington South

04/798

13 February 1904

Rev. William Shirer

No	116
Date of Notice	13 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Barnes	Jessica May Berryman
	💍 1904/3336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Conductor	Dressmaker
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. James Manse, Wellington South
Folio	04/798
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Shirer

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).