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 1310

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

841

15 December 1904

William Henry Townsend
Norah Effie Hume

William Henry Townsend
Norah Effie Hume
💍 1904/6747

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
12 months

St. Thomas Church, Wellington

04/6891

Hume, Father

15 December 1904

Rev. J. Walker

No	841
Date of Notice	15 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Townsend	Norah Effie Hume
	💍 1904/6747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church, Wellington
Folio	04/6891
Consent	Hume, Father
Date of Certificate	15 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker

842

16 December 1904

William Rait
Katie Wilson

William Rait
Katie Wilson
💍 1904/6176

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
21 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney Street, Wellington

04/6182

16 December 1904

Rev. S. Bailey

No	842
Date of Notice	16 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rait	Katie Wilson
	💍 1904/6176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney Street, Wellington
Folio	04/6182
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Bailey

843

17 December 1904

John Day
Elizabeth Henrietta McCabe

John Day
Henrietta Elizabeth McCabe
💍 1904/6000

Widower
Spinster

Railway Inspector

52
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 Days
3 Days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

04/5863

17 December 1904

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	843
Date of Notice	17 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Day	Elizabeth Henrietta McCabe
BDM Match (69%)	John Day	Henrietta Elizabeth McCabe
	💍 1904/6000
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Inspector
Age	52	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	04/5863
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1904
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

844

17 December 1904

James Smith Fletcher
Isabella Fletcher

James Smith Fletcher
Isabella Fletcher
💍 1904/4306

Widower
Spinster

Carrier
Dressmaker

39
29

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
6 years

Residence of Mr. Robert Fletcher, 54 Thorndon Quay, Wellington

04/6021

17 December 1904

Rev. W. J. Dean

No	844
Date of Notice	17 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith Fletcher	Isabella Fletcher
	💍 1904/4306
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Dressmaker
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Robert Fletcher, 54 Thorndon Quay, Wellington
Folio	04/6021
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Dean

845

19 December 1904

Jabez Alfred Cowles
Jenny Helen Glover

Jabez Alfred Cowles
Jenny Helen Glover
💍 1904/4277

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

32
27

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. G. Glover, 18 Oriental Terrace, Wellington

04/5927

19 December 1904

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	845
Date of Notice	19 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jabez Alfred Cowles	Jenny Helen Glover
	💍 1904/4277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. Glover, 18 Oriental Terrace, Wellington
Folio	04/5927
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

846

19 December 1904

Clarence Arthur Willson
Constance Helena Kendal Plimmer

Clarence Arthur Wilton
Constance Helena Kendal Plummer
💍 1905/5902

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

23
24

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
24 years

St. John's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

04/5753

19 December 1904

Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

No	846
Date of Notice	19 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Arthur Willson	Constance Helena Kendal Plimmer
BDM Match (94%)	Clarence Arthur Wilton	Constance Helena Kendal Plummer
	💍 1905/5902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	04/5753
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

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).