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 1202

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar J. W. 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

258

31 March 1904

Harry Bonner
Christine Meech

Harry Bonner
Christine Meech
💍 1904/2158

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

32
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
Life

Scots Church, Moir Street, Abel Smith Street, Wellington

04/3239

31 March 1904

Rev W. Thompson

No	258
Date of Notice	31 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Bonner	Christine Meech
	💍 1904/2158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Scots Church, Moir Street, Abel Smith Street, Wellington
Folio	04/3239
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Thompson

259

31 March 1904

Daniel Edwards Alexander
Mary Agatha Nolan

Daniel Edward Alexander
Mary Agatha Nolan
💍 1904/1993

Bachelor
Spinster

Presser
Tailoress

26
24

Wellington
Christchurch

5 months
19 years

Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Christchurch

04/3046

31 March 1904

Rev J. Le Menant des Chesnais

No	259
Date of Notice	31 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Edwards Alexander	Mary Agatha Nolan
BDM Match (98%)	Daniel Edward Alexander	Mary Agatha Nolan
	💍 1904/1993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Presser	Tailoress
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	04/3046
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Le Menant des Chesnais

260

31 March 1904

Wilbert Coup
Alice Elizabeth Robinson

Wilbert Coup
Alice Elizabeth Robinson
💍 1904/6832

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

24
18

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

04/725

Alice Robinson, Mother

31 March 1904

J. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	260
Date of Notice	31 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilbert Coup	Alice Elizabeth Robinson
	💍 1904/6832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	04/725
Consent	Alice Robinson, Mother
Date of Certificate	31 March 1904
Officiating Minister	J. W. Mansfield, Registrar

261

31 March 1904

Charles Hunter Villars
Elizabeth Ellen Fitzgerald

Charles Hunter Villars
Elizabeth Ellen Fitzgerald
💍 1904/3821

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Dressmaker

25
19

Petone
Hutt

5 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hutt

04/851

Michael Fitzgerald, Father

31 March 1904

Rev J. J. Rome

No	261
Date of Notice	31 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hunter Villars	Elizabeth Ellen Fitzgerald
	💍 1904/3821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Dressmaker
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Hutt
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hutt
Folio	04/851
Consent	Michael Fitzgerald, Father
Date of Certificate	31 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. Rome

262

31 March 1904

Edward Allworthy Martin
Annie Brother Proceed

Edward Allworthy Martin
Annie Brooker
💍 1904/6824

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 29/3/04)

Labourer

32
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

04/726

31 March 1904

J. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	262
Date of Notice	31 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Allworthy Martin	Annie Brother Proceed
BDM Match (76%)	Edward Allworthy Martin	Annie Brooker
	💍 1904/6824
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 29/3/04)
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	04/726
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1904
Officiating Minister	J. W. Mansfield, Registrar

263

31 March 1904

John Joseph Kelly
Ellen Hogan

John Joseph Kelly
Ellen Hogan
💍 1904/1468

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

27
26

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
3 years

St. Joseph's Church, Brougham Street, Wellington

04/2505

31 March 1904

Rev N. B. Moloney

No	263
Date of Notice	31 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Kelly	Ellen Hogan
	💍 1904/1468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Brougham Street, Wellington
Folio	04/2505
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev N. B. Moloney

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).