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 556

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 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

25 April 1904

Charles Hewitson Mitchell
Helena Dobbs

Charles Hewitson Mitchell
Helena Dobbs
💍 1904/1066

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

24
22

Thames
Thames

3 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church

04/2055

25 April 1904

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	25 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hewitson Mitchell	Helena Dobbs
	💍 1904/1066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	04/2055
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

13 May 1904

Frank Wadsworth
Evelyn Constance Boss

Frank Wordsworth
Evelyn Constance Vos
💍 1904/1079

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

30
28

Thames
Puriri

3 days
1 month

At the house of Mr. Boss

04/2061

13 May 1904

Rev. R. Taylor, Wesleyan Methodist

No	28
Date of Notice	13 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Wadsworth	Evelyn Constance Boss
BDM Match (89%)	Frank Wordsworth	Evelyn Constance Vos
	💍 1904/1079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Puriri
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Boss
Folio	04/2061
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Taylor, Wesleyan Methodist

14 May 1904

Mungo Douglas
Ettie Billing

Mango Douglas
Ellie Billing
💍 1904/1082

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

30
26

Thames
Thames

1 day
26 years

Primitive Methodist Church

04/2064

14 May 1904

Rev. S. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

No	29
Date of Notice	14 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mungo Douglas	Ettie Billing
BDM Match (88%)	Mango Douglas	Ellie Billing
	💍 1904/1082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	26 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church
Folio	04/2064
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Henderson, Primitive Methodist

19 May 1904

William Edward Hale
Elizabeth McCormick

William Edward Hale
Elizabeth McCormick
💍 1904/1067

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
20

Matatoki
Tararu

18 months
20 years

At the house of Mr. R. Potts, Springfields Farm

04/2056

Francis McCormick, father of bride

19 May 1904

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	19 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Hale	Elizabeth McCormick
	💍 1904/1067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Matatoki	Tararu
Length of Residence	18 months	20 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. R. Potts, Springfields Farm
Folio	04/2056
Consent	Francis McCormick, father of bride
Date of Certificate	19 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

6 June 1904

John Inglis
Ellen Amelia Inglis

John Johns
Ellen Amelia Inglis
💍 1904/1068

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

30
28

Thames
28 Cochrane Street, Thames

3 days
28 years

At the house of Miss E. A. Inglis

04/2057

8 June 1904

Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	6 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Inglis	Ellen Amelia Inglis
BDM Match (77%)	John Johns	Ellen Amelia Inglis
	💍 1904/1068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	28 Cochrane Street, Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Miss E. A. Inglis
Folio	04/2057
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Thompson, Presbyterian

7 June 1904

William Henry Bartlett
Elizabeth Alice Gourt

William Henry Bartlett
Elizabeth Alice Court
💍 1904/1059

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer
Domestic duties

34
23

Auckland
Thames

34 years
7 years

St. Georges Church, Auckland

04/2049

7 June 1904

Rev. J. Callagham, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	7 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Bartlett	Elizabeth Alice Gourt
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Bartlett	Elizabeth Alice Court
	💍 1904/1059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer	Domestic duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Thames
Length of Residence	34 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Georges Church, Auckland
Folio	04/2049
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Callagham, 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).