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 1196

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar D. H. 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

236

28 March 1904

William Franklin Browne
Mary Ann Wallis Mahram

William Franklin Browne
Mary Ann Wallis Moxham
💍 1904/3290

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

35
24

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
Life

Wesleyan Methodist Church, Molesworth Street, Wellington

04/875

28 March 1904

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	236
Date of Notice	28 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Franklin Browne	Mary Ann Wallis Mahram
BDM Match (93%)	William Franklin Browne	Mary Ann Wallis Moxham
	💍 1904/3290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Methodist Church, Molesworth Street, Wellington
Folio	04/875
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

237

28 March 1904

Walter James Russell
Harriet Day

Walter James Russell
Harriet Day
💍 1904/4745

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Machinist

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
6 years

Residence of Mrs. Day, 22 Jessie Street, Wellington

04/886

28 March 1904

Rev. W. N. Hall

No	237
Date of Notice	28 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Russell	Harriet Day
	💍 1904/4745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Machinist
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Day, 22 Jessie Street, Wellington
Folio	04/886
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. N. Hall

238

28 March 1904

John Harding Staples
Caroline Newton Staples

John Harding
Caroline Newton Staples
💍 1904/1434

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

24
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
Life

St. Peters Church, Wellington

04/2479

28 March 1904

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	238
Date of Notice	28 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harding Staples	Caroline Newton Staples
BDM Match (80%)	John Harding	Caroline Newton Staples
	💍 1904/1434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	04/2479
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

239

28 March 1904

James McAlpine
Minnie Octavia Judd

James McAlpine
Minnie Octavia Judd
💍 1904/3788

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer
Dressmaker

27
24

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
24 years

St. Andrews Church, Wellington

04/818

28 March 1904

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	239
Date of Notice	28 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McAlpine	Minnie Octavia Judd
	💍 1904/3788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Wellington
Folio	04/818
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

240

28 March 1904

Argmen George Smith
Mabel Keren Happuch Blundell

Agmen George Smith
Mabel Kerenhappuch Blundell
💍 1904/1435

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

31
31

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
31 years

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

04/2480

28 March 1904

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	240
Date of Notice	28 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Argmen George Smith	Mabel Keren Happuch Blundell
BDM Match (94%)	Agmen George Smith	Mabel Kerenhappuch Blundell
	💍 1904/1435
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	31 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	04/2480
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

241

29 March 1904

Wongford Francis Alfred Aplin
Sarah Elizabeth Caverhill

Wonford Francis Alfrid Aplin
Sarah Elizabeth Caverhill
💍 1904/1638

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

25
26

Petone
Petone

4 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Petone

04/8251

29 March 1904

Rev. A. Thomson

No	241
Date of Notice	29 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wongford Francis Alfred Aplin	Sarah Elizabeth Caverhill
BDM Match (97%)	Wonford Francis Alfrid Aplin	Sarah Elizabeth Caverhill
	💍 1904/1638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Petone
Folio	04/8251
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

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 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).