Intentions to Marry, 1904 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840426, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 13 2025.

1904 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 013

District of Pelorus Quarter ending 30 June 1904 Registrar A. H. Hale

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

2 April 1904

John Picard
Ethel Andrews

John Picard
Ethel Andrews
💍 1904/1671

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler
Domestic duties

26
21

Canvastown
Canvastown

16 years
5 years

At the residence of the bride's mother, Canvastown

04/2698

2 April 1904

Rev. Stace, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	2 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Picard	Ethel Andrews
	💍 1904/1671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Canvastown	Canvastown
Length of Residence	16 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of the bride's mother, Canvastown
Folio	04/2698
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stace, Church of England

23 April 1904

Walter Huddlestone Seymour
Margery Mills

Walter Isaddleston Seymour
Margery Mills
💍 1904/1672

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic duties

33
27

Havelock
Havelock

10 years
27 years

Church of St Peters, Havelock

04/2699

23 April 1904

Rev. Stace, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	23 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Huddlestone Seymour	Margery Mills
BDM Match (92%)	Walter Isaddleston Seymour	Margery Mills
	💍 1904/1672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Havelock	Havelock
Length of Residence	10 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of St Peters, Havelock
Folio	04/2699
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stace, Church of England

31 May 1904

Herbert Gibson
Isobel Evelyn Maud Hale

Herbert Gibson
Isobel Evelyn Maud Hale
💍 1904/1649

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

30
24

Wanganui
Wanganui

2 years
1 year

At the residence of the bride's parents, Havelock

04/2700

31 May 1904

Rev. Stace, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	31 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Gibson	Isobel Evelyn Maud Hale
	💍 1904/1649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the residence of the bride's parents, Havelock
Folio	04/2700
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stace, Church of England

2 June 1904

Henry William Boyd
Nora Borck

Henry William Boyd
Nora Borek
💍 1904/1650

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

42
31

Canvastown
Maori Bay

3 months
6 days

At the residence of William Morrison, Havelock

04/2701

2 June 1904

Rev. Stace, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	2 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Boyd	Nora Borck
BDM Match (95%)	Henry William Boyd	Nora Borek
	💍 1904/1650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	42	31
Dwelling Place	Canvastown	Maori Bay
Length of Residence	3 months	6 days
Marriage Place	At the residence of William Morrison, Havelock
Folio	04/2701
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stace, Church of England

10 June 1904

James Brownlee
Edith Mary Parsons

James Brownlee
Edith Mary Parsons
💍 1904/1651

Widower
Spinster

Manager Dairy Factory
Domestic duties

33
30

Havelock
Havelock

4 years
3 years

At the residence of Mrs. Parsons, Havelock

04/2702

10 June 1904

Rev. Stace, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	10 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brownlee	Edith Mary Parsons
	💍 1904/1651
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Manager Dairy Factory	Domestic duties
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Havelock	Havelock
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mrs. Parsons, Havelock
Folio	04/2702
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stace, Church of England

6 June 1904

John George Smart
Sophia Eleanor Derose Jones

John George Smart
Sophia Eleanor Dorcas Jones
💍 1904/5535

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

33
35

Rai Valley
Canvastown

5 years
35 years

At the residence of Mrs. Jones, Canvastown

6 June 1904

Rev. Stace, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	6 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Smart	Sophia Eleanor Derose Jones
BDM Match (93%)	John George Smart	Sophia Eleanor Dorcas Jones
	💍 1904/5535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Rai Valley	Canvastown
Length of Residence	5 years	35 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mrs. Jones, Canvastown
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stace, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).