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 560

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1904 Registrar William H. Potter

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

13 August 1904

Adolph Carlson
Rosa Jane Charles

Adolph Carlson
Rosa Jane Charles
💍 1904/2737

Bachelor
Spinster

Diamond Setter
Domestic duties

31 years
23 years

Thames
Thames

1 year
18 months

Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, New Thames

04/3890

13 August 1904

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	13 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adolph Carlson	Rosa Jane Charles
	💍 1904/2737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Diamond Setter	Domestic duties
Age	31 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 year	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, New Thames
Folio	04/3890
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

15 August 1904

Kellie Ludwig
Laura D'Alkimer

Willie Ludwig
Laura Faulkiner
💍 1904/2753

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

22 years
21 years

Thames
Thames

22 years
2 days

A. R. C. Church of England, Tararu Road, Thames

04/3882

15 August 1904

Rev. Doctor O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	45
Date of Notice	15 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kellie Ludwig	Laura D'Alkimer
BDM Match (79%)	Willie Ludwig	Laura Faulkiner
	💍 1904/2753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	2 days
Marriage Place	A. R. C. Church of England, Tararu Road, Thames
Folio	04/3882
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Doctor O'Callaghan, Church of England

1 September 1904

Thomas Bowden
Frances Bennett

Thomas Bowden
Frances Bennett
💍 1904/2732

Widower
Spinster

Gummer
Domestic duties

54 years
35 years

Thames
Thames

15 years
30 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

04/3885

1 September 1904

William H. Potter, Registrar

No	46
Date of Notice	1 September 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bowden	Frances Bennett
	💍 1904/2732
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gummer	Domestic duties
Age	54 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	15 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	04/3885
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1904
Officiating Minister	William H. Potter, Registrar

3 September 1904

John Edward Boyle
Margaret Laura Sawyer

John Edward Boyle
Margaret Laura Sawyer
💍 1904/2738

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

30 years
29 years

Thames
Thames

30 years
29 years

Roman Catholic Church, Mawhera Quay, Thames

04/3891

3 September 1904

The Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	47
Date of Notice	3 September 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Boyle	Margaret Laura Sawyer
	💍 1904/2738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	30 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	30 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Mawhera Quay, Thames
Folio	04/3891
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1904
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

13 September 1904

John Braid
Marion Gillespie

John Braid
Maria Gillespie
💍 1904/2754

Bachelor
Widow

Auctioneer
Domestic duties

29 years
38 years

Thames
Thames

1 year
30 years

Church of England, Parawai, Thames

04/3883

13 September 1904

Rev. Doctor O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	13 September 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Braid	Marion Gillespie
BDM Match (94%)	John Braid	Maria Gillespie
	💍 1904/2754
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Auctioneer	Domestic duties
Age	29 years	38 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 year	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Parawai, Thames
Folio	04/3883
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Doctor O'Callaghan, Church of England

28 September 1904

Herbert Charles Strong
Violet Williams

Herbert Charles Strong
Violet Williams
💍 1904/6983

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach builder
Domestic duties

30 years
23 years

Thames
Thames

3 days
23 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Thames

04/3894

28 September 1904

Rev. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

No	49
Date of Notice	28 September 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Charles Strong	Violet Williams
	💍 1904/6983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach builder	Domestic duties
Age	30 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	04/3894
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 September 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henderson, 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).