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 109

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 30 September 1904

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

506

4 July 1904

Percy Frank Lawson
Edith Jane Collier

Percy Frank Lawson
Edith Jane Collister
💍 1904/46

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron Moulder

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

1 yr

Primitive Methodist Church, Mt Roskill

04/3796

4 July 1904

Rev E. Warburton, Primitive Methodist

No	506
Date of Notice	4 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Frank Lawson	Edith Jane Collier
BDM Match (95%)	Percy Frank Lawson	Edith Jane Collister
	💍 1904/46
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron Moulder
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 yr
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Mt Roskill
Folio	04/3796
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Warburton, Primitive Methodist

507

4 July 1904

Walter Thomas Coyle
Mabel Martin Matterson

Walter Thomas Coyle
Mabel Albertina Mattson
💍 1904/2597

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

29
20

Auckland
Auckland

29 yrs
20 yrs

Church of England, Epsom

04/3739

Herman Matterson, Father

4 July 1904

Rev F. G. Walker, Church of England

No	507
Date of Notice	4 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Coyle	Mabel Martin Matterson
BDM Match (85%)	Walter Thomas Coyle	Mabel Albertina Mattson
	💍 1904/2597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	29 yrs	20 yrs
Marriage Place	Church of England, Epsom
Folio	04/3739
Consent	Herman Matterson, Father
Date of Certificate	4 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev F. G. Walker, Church of England

508

4 July 1904

John Albert Quinn
Mary Drum

John Albert Quinlan
Mary Drumm
💍 1904/2620

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

28
28

Auckland
Auckland

28 yrs
28

St Benedicts Church, Auckland

04/3766

4 July 1904

Rev J. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

No	508
Date of Notice	4 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Albert Quinn	Mary Drum
BDM Match (90%)	John Albert Quinlan	Mary Drumm
	💍 1904/2620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	28 yrs	28
Marriage Place	St Benedicts Church, Auckland
Folio	04/3766
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

509

4 July 1904

John Joseph Sheahan
Caroline Multrus

John Joseph Sheahon
Caroline Clara Multrus
💍 1904/4627

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

26
18

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby

04/6509

Jacob Multrus, Father

4 July 1904

Rev W. H. Corcoran, Roman Catholic

No	509
Date of Notice	4 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Sheahan	Caroline Multrus
BDM Match (84%)	John Joseph Sheahon	Caroline Clara Multrus
	💍 1904/4627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby
Folio	04/6509
Consent	Jacob Multrus, Father
Date of Certificate	4 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Corcoran, Roman Catholic

510

5 July 1904

Walter John Broad
Ada Bona Churches

Walter John Broad
Ada Bona Churches
💍 1904/5102

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
20

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
2 yrs

Church of England, Mount Albert

04/4363

George Churches, Father

5 July 1904

Rev W. H. Wilson, Church of England

No	510
Date of Notice	5 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Broad	Ada Bona Churches
	💍 1904/5102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	2 yrs
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mount Albert
Folio	04/4363
Consent	George Churches, Father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Wilson, Church of England

511

5 July 1904

Edward Jones
Lily Waters

Edward Jones
Lily Waters
💍 1904/2619

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

34
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
21 yrs

St Benedicts Church, Auckland

04/3765

5 July 1904

Rev J. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

No	511
Date of Notice	5 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Jones	Lily Waters
	💍 1904/2619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	21 yrs
Marriage Place	St Benedicts Church, Auckland
Folio	04/3765
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

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).