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 562

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1904 Registrar William H. Potts

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

4 November 1904

Thomas Christian Christensen
Eunice Winter

Thomas Christian Christensen
Eunice Winter
💍 1904/5811

Widower
Spinster

Master Mariner
Hotel Proprietress

47
32

Kopu
Thames

1 year
4 years

at the residence of her mother, Brown Street, Thames

04/5506

4 November 1904

Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	4 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Christian Christensen	Eunice Winter
	💍 1904/5811
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner	Hotel Proprietress
Age	47	32
Dwelling Place	Kopu	Thames
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of her mother, Brown Street, Thames
Folio	04/5506
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

3 December 1904

John Growden
Hannah Ingo

John Fowler
Hannah Ingo
💍 1904/5800

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Master
Domestic duties

30
19

Thames
Thames

3 days
10 years

at the house of Mr. Coombes, Ngaruawahia, Thames Valley

04/5579

3 December 1904

Rev. S. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

No	58
Date of Notice	3 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Growden	Hannah Ingo
BDM Match (83%)	John Fowler	Hannah Ingo
	💍 1904/5800
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Master	Domestic duties
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	at the house of Mr. Coombes, Ngaruawahia, Thames Valley
Folio	04/5579
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

14 December 1904

William Honey Shaw
Mary Magdalen Donnelly

William Henry Shaw
Mary Magdalen Donnelly
💍 1904/5815

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
25

Thames
Thames

18 months
25 years

Roman Catholic Church, Thames

04/5370

Right Rev. Monsignor Reilly, Roman Catholic

14 December 1904

Right Rev. Monsignor Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	59
Date of Notice	14 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Honey Shaw	Mary Magdalen Donnelly
BDM Match (94%)	William Henry Shaw	Mary Magdalen Donnelly
	💍 1904/5815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	18 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	04/5370
Consent	Right Rev. Monsignor Reilly, Roman Catholic
Date of Certificate	14 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Monsignor Reilly, Roman Catholic

19 December 1904

Robert Hugh Aitkin
Elizabeth Maud McEntee

Robert Hugh Aitken
Elizabeth Maud McEntee
💍 1904/6486

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
25

Thames
Thames

3 days
1 month

at the house of Mr. Bishop, Puriri

04/6503

19 December 1904

Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	19 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hugh Aitkin	Elizabeth Maud McEntee
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Hugh Aitken	Elizabeth Maud McEntee
	💍 1904/6486
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	at the house of Mr. Bishop, Puriri
Folio	04/6503
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

23 December 1904

Joseph O'Brien
Caroline Coombes

John Joseph OBrien
Caroline Connebee Cooke
💍 1904/5798

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
22

Puriri
Matatoke

18 years
22 years

at the house of Mr. Coombes, Matatoke

04/5577

23 December 1904

Rev. J. Callaghan, Church of England

No	61
Date of Notice	23 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph O'Brien	Caroline Coombes
BDM Match (62%)	John Joseph OBrien	Caroline Connebee Cooke
	💍 1904/5798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Matatoke
Length of Residence	18 years	22 years
Marriage Place	at the house of Mr. Coombes, Matatoke
Folio	04/5577
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Callaghan, Church of England

23 December 1904

Noah Swindale
Margaret Annie Aitkin Goodall

Noah Swindail
Margaret Annie Aitken Goodall
💍 1905/4776

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
21

Wharepoa
Thames

7 years
4 days

at the house of Mr. Rodgers, Wharepoa

05/318

4 January 1905

Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	62
Date of Notice	23 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Noah Swindale	Margaret Annie Aitkin Goodall
BDM Match (91%)	Noah Swindail	Margaret Annie Aitken Goodall
	💍 1905/4776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wharepoa	Thames
Length of Residence	7 years	4 days
Marriage Place	at the house of Mr. Rodgers, Wharepoa
Folio	05/318
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Thompson, Presbyterian

24 December 1904

Walter Jones
Matilda Coms

Walter Jones
Mabel Ams
💍 1904/5799

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

26
21

Kopu
Thames

26 years
21 years

Church of Christ, Thames

04/5578

24 December 1904

Samuel Taylor, Church of Christ

No	63
Date of Notice	24 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Jones	Matilda Coms
BDM Match (75%)	Walter Jones	Mabel Ams
	💍 1904/5799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Kopu	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Thames
Folio	04/5578
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Samuel Taylor, Church of Christ

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).