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 1290

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

724

1 November 1904

George Patrick Farrell
Haidee Smith

George Patrick Farrell
Haidee Smith
💍 1904/6088

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Dressmaker

28
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
2 years

Residence of Mr. J. Savill, 189 Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

04/5979

1 November 1904

Rev. G. Bond

No	724
Date of Notice	1 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Patrick Farrell	Haidee Smith
	💍 1904/6088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Dressmaker
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Savill, 189 Cambridge Terrace, Wellington
Folio	04/5979
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Bond

725

1 November 1904

Alfred Ernest Yair
Mabel Smealon Dunbar

Alfred Ernest Mair
Mabel Smeaton Dunbar
💍 1904/6050

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33
22

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
16 years

Residence of Mr. Livermore, 9 Frederick Street, Wellington

04/5915

1 November 1904

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	725
Date of Notice	1 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Yair	Mabel Smealon Dunbar
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred Ernest Mair	Mabel Smeaton Dunbar
	💍 1904/6050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Livermore, 9 Frederick Street, Wellington
Folio	04/5915
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

726

1 November 1904

Albert August Renner
Ethel Parrows Thompson

Albert August Renner
Ethel Burrows Thompson
💍 1904/4287

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Machinist

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
19 years

Residence of Mr. F. Renner, 83 Martin Square, Wellington

04/5936

Slaney Ann Helen Thompson, Mother

1 November 1904

Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

No	726
Date of Notice	1 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert August Renner	Ethel Parrows Thompson
BDM Match (95%)	Albert August Renner	Ethel Burrows Thompson
	💍 1904/4287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Machinist
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. F. Renner, 83 Martin Square, Wellington
Folio	04/5936
Consent	Slaney Ann Helen Thompson, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

727

2 November 1904

Lionel Waddel Justin
Harriet Ada Justin

Lionel Waddel
Harriet Ada Tustin
💍 1904/6035

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

32
22

Wellington
Karori

9 years
22 years

St. Mary's Church, Karori

04/5891

2 November 1904

Rev. A. L. Hansell

No	727
Date of Notice	2 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Waddel Justin	Harriet Ada Justin
BDM Match (80%)	Lionel Waddel	Harriet Ada Tustin
	💍 1904/6035
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	9 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	04/5891
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell

728

2 November 1904

Albert Vincent Morgan
Ellen Isabel Shilling

Albert Vincent Morgan
Ellen Isabel Shilling
💍 1904/6023

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

27
28

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
9 years

St. Mark's Church, Sussex Square, Wellington

04/5886

2 November 1904

Rev. R. Coffey

No	728
Date of Notice	2 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Vincent Morgan	Ellen Isabel Shilling
	💍 1904/6023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Sussex Square, Wellington
Folio	04/5886
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

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).