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 1021

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar William J. Reeve

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

16 March 1904

George Benjamin Blake
Agnes Harriet Drummond

George Benjamin Blake
Agnes Harriett Drummond
💍 1904/3796

Widower
Spinster

Civil Engineer
Domestic

39
23

Pahiatua
Wellington

4 years
23 years

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington

04/825

16 March 1904

Rev. D. James Gibb, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	16 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Benjamin Blake	Agnes Harriet Drummond
BDM Match (98%)	George Benjamin Blake	Agnes Harriett Drummond
	💍 1904/3796
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer	Domestic
Age	39	23
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	04/825
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. James Gibb, Presbyterian

29 March 1904

Arthur Grace Ross Crawford
Isabella Cunningham Wilson

Arthur Grant Ross Crawford
Isabella Cunningham Wilson
💍 1904/1381

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
24

Makuri
Makuri

4 years
24 years

Residence of Robert Wilson, Makuri

04/2367

29 March 1904

Rev. John Ross, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	29 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Grace Ross Crawford	Isabella Cunningham Wilson
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Grant Ross Crawford	Isabella Cunningham Wilson
	💍 1904/1381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Makuri	Makuri
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Wilson, Makuri
Folio	04/2367
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Ross, Presbyterian

30 March 1904

Henry Hirst
Elsie Russell

Henry Hirst
Elsie Russell
💍 1904/1643

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
23

Konini
Konini

10 years
5 years

Residence of G. H. Hirst, Konini

04/2670

30 March 1904

Rev. H. S. Leach, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	30 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hirst	Elsie Russell
	💍 1904/1643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Konini	Konini
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. H. Hirst, Konini
Folio	04/2670
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Church of England

30 March 1904

Joseph Upston
Annie Fulcher

Joseph Upston
Annie Fulcher
💍 1904/3210

Bachelor
Spinster

Store Agent
Domestic

26
21

Pahiatua
Kaitaawa

7 years
15 years

Residence of W. Fulcher, Kaitaawa

04/599

30 March 1904

Rev. H. S. Leach, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	30 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Upston	Annie Fulcher
	💍 1904/3210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store Agent	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Kaitaawa
Length of Residence	7 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Fulcher, Kaitaawa
Folio	04/599
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Church of England

31 March 1904

Edwin McCulloch
Emily Christiansen

Edwin McCulloch
Emily Christiansen
💍 1904/2456

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
Domestic

29
27

Pahiatua
Ngaturi

3 days
8 years

Residence of Mrs. Christiansen, Ngaturi

4 April 1904

Rev. H. B. Marshall, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	31 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin McCulloch	Emily Christiansen
	💍 1904/2456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	Domestic
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Ngaturi
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Christiansen, Ngaturi
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Marshall, Church of England

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).