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 1245

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

487

1 July 1904

Frank Ernest Franklyn
Edith Hossick Macgregor

Frank Ernest Franklyn
Edith Hossick Macgregor
💍 1904/4965

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

24
24

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
12 years

St. Thomas' Church

04/4348

1 July 1904

Rev. John Walker

No	487
Date of Notice	1 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Ernest Franklyn	Edith Hossick Macgregor
	💍 1904/4965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church
Folio	04/4348
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker

488

1 July 1904

John Eneas Campbell
Clare Patten

John Ensers Campbell
Clare Patten
💍 1904/4995

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

34
27

Wellington
Wellington

34 years
6 months

Residence of Mr. Patten, 29 Alice Street, Wellington

04/4278

1 July 1904

Rev. James Gibb D.D.

No	488
Date of Notice	1 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Eneas Campbell	Clare Patten
BDM Match (95%)	John Ensers Campbell	Clare Patten
	💍 1904/4995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	34 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Patten, 29 Alice Street, Wellington
Folio	04/4278
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Gibb D.D.

489

2 July 1904

George James Bellar-Eden
Annie Elizabeth Moore Pratton Prowse

George James Dellar-Eden
Annie Elizabeth Moore Pratten Prouse
💍 1904/6867

Widower
Widow

Chemist

54
40

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
5 days

Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street

04/5059

2 July 1904

Rev. John Dawson

No	489
Date of Notice	2 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Bellar-Eden	Annie Elizabeth Moore Pratton Prowse
BDM Match (95%)	George James Dellar-Eden	Annie Elizabeth Moore Pratten Prouse
	💍 1904/6867
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Chemist
Age	54	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street
Folio	04/5059
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Dawson

490

2 July 1904

Douglas Brease
Selina Rowe

Douglas Crease
Selina Rowe
💍 1904/6998

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. W. Webb, 35 Martin Square, Wellington

04/5060

2 July 1904

Rev. John Dawson

No	490
Date of Notice	2 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Brease	Selina Rowe
BDM Match (96%)	Douglas Crease	Selina Rowe
	💍 1904/6998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Webb, 35 Martin Square, Wellington
Folio	04/5060
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Dawson

491

5 July 1904

Phillip John Desonya
Ellen Bergin

Phillip John Desouza
Ellen Bergin
💍 1904/5018

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
2 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

04/4301

5 July 1904

Rev. A. B. Moloney

No	491
Date of Notice	5 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Phillip John Desonya	Ellen Bergin
BDM Match (95%)	Phillip John Desouza	Ellen Bergin
	💍 1904/5018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	04/4301
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Moloney

492

5 July 1904

John David Stitt
Alice Maud Carter

John David Stitt
Alice Maud Carter
💍 1904/4928

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter & Builder

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
19 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

04/4185

5 July 1904

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	492
Date of Notice	5 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John David Stitt	Alice Maud Carter
	💍 1904/4928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter & Builder
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	04/4185
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1904
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, 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).