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 700

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar S.Y. James

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

22 February 1904

Arthur Simmons
Myra Lilian Dodson

Arthur Simmons
Myra Lilian Dodson
💍 1904/3179

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
24

Strathmore
Strathmore

23 years
7 years

Residence of G. Crudis, Brewer road, Strathmore

04/421

22 February 1904

Rev. J. Harris, Primitive Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	22 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Simmons	Myra Lilian Dodson
	💍 1904/3179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Strathmore	Strathmore
Length of Residence	23 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Crudis, Brewer road, Strathmore
Folio	04/421
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Harris, Primitive Methodist

7 March 1904

William Christian Lotz
Ann Bennett

William Christian Lotz
Ann Bennett
💍 1904/3175

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

24
36

Stratford
Stratford

4 years
4 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford

04/417

7 March 1904

Rev. J. Clover, Primitive Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	7 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Christian Lotz	Ann Bennett
	💍 1904/3175
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	36
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	04/417
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Clover, Primitive Methodist

7 March 1904

Charles Matthew Birkett
Lettie Isabella Glover

Charles Matthew Birkett
Lillie Isabella Clover
💍 1904/3177

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

30
22

Stratford
Stratford

16 years
3 years

Primitive Methodist Church at Stratford

04/419

7 March 1904

Rev. J.B. Woolloxall, Primitive Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	7 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Matthew Birkett	Lettie Isabella Glover
BDM Match (91%)	Charles Matthew Birkett	Lillie Isabella Clover
	💍 1904/3177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church at Stratford
Folio	04/419
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.B. Woolloxall, Primitive Methodist

24 March 1904

John Thomas Sydney Reader
Ivy Alice Russ

John Thomas Sydney Reader
Ivy Alice Russ
💍 1904/3176

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
21

Stratford
Stratford

6 years
4 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford

04/418

24 March 1904

Rev. J. Clover, Primitive Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	24 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Sydney Reader	Ivy Alice Russ
	💍 1904/3176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	04/418
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Clover, Primitive Methodist

28 March 1904

William Arthur Baker
Florence Abraham

William Aitken
Florence Abraham
💍 1904/3178

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

26
33

Rahotu
Midhirst

8 months
2 years

Residence of John Abraham, Stanley road, Midhirst

04/420

28 March 1904

Rev. J. Clover, Primitive Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	28 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Baker	Florence Abraham
BDM Match (80%)	William Aitken	Florence Abraham
	💍 1904/3178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	26	33
Dwelling Place	Rahotu	Midhirst
Length of Residence	8 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Abraham, Stanley road, Midhirst
Folio	04/420
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Clover, Primitive Methodist

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).