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 1176

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1904

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

128

23 February 1904

Charles Caleb Eden Wells
Jessie Beatrice Base Ford

Charles Caleb Eden Wells
Jessie Beatrice Case Ford
💍 1904/692

Widower (April 1900)
Spinster

Farmer
Spinster

40
23

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
20 years

St. Pauls pro Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

04/1592

23 February 1904

Rev. J. A. Sprott

No	128
Date of Notice	23 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Caleb Eden Wells	Jessie Beatrice Base Ford
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Caleb Eden Wells	Jessie Beatrice Case Ford
	💍 1904/692
Condition	Widower (April 1900)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Spinster
Age	40	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls pro Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	04/1592
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Sprott

129

23 February 1904

David Williamson
Edith Mary Wheeler

David Williamson
Edith Mary Wheeler
💍 1904/3277

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Manager

46
45

Wellington
Wellington

33 years
18 years

St. James Church, Lower Hutt

04/763

23 February 1904

Rev. J. Jones

No	129
Date of Notice	23 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Williamson	Edith Mary Wheeler
	💍 1904/3277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Manager
Age	46	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	33 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	04/763
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Jones

130

23 February 1904

Herbert Denton
Annie Jane Wilson

Herbert Denton
Anne Jane Wilson
💍 1904/3280

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
18 months

Residence of G. Denton, Fern Hill, Woolcombe Street

04/865

23 February 1904

Rev. W. B. Oliver

No	130
Date of Notice	23 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Denton	Annie Jane Wilson
BDM Match (97%)	Herbert Denton	Anne Jane Wilson
	💍 1904/3280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Denton, Fern Hill, Woolcombe Street
Folio	04/865
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Oliver

131

24 February 1904

Thomas McBlatchie
Agnes Lane

Thomas McClatchie
Agnes Lane
💍 1904/5556

Widower (March 1900)
Spinster

Grain Sampler

46
30

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
5 days

Residence of Mr. Lane, 6 Majoribanks Street, Wellington

04/50248

24 February 1904

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	131
Date of Notice	24 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McBlatchie	Agnes Lane
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas McClatchie	Agnes Lane
	💍 1904/5556
Condition	Widower (March 1900)	Spinster
Profession	Grain Sampler
Age	46	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Lane, 6 Majoribanks Street, Wellington
Folio	04/50248
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

132

24 February 1904

Frederick Alfred Philpot
Mary Ellen Langdon

Frederick Alfred Philpot
Mary Ellen Langdon
💍 1904/3758

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
24 years

St. Marks Church, Wellington

04/730

24 February 1904

Rev. R. Coffey

No	132
Date of Notice	24 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Alfred Philpot	Mary Ellen Langdon
	💍 1904/3758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	04/730
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 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 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).