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 034

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1904 Registrar H. Jackman

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

23 May 1904

William Booker
Edith Mary Louise Mortimer

William Booker
Edith Mary Louisa Mortimer
💍 1904/1695

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

27
22

Onamalutu
Okaramio

26 years
20 years

Mr J Mortimer's residence, Okaramio

04/774

23 May 1904

Rev H Foston

No	31
Date of Notice	23 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Booker	Edith Mary Louise Mortimer
BDM Match (98%)	William Booker	Edith Mary Louisa Mortimer
	💍 1904/1695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Onamalutu	Okaramio
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Mr J Mortimer's residence, Okaramio
Folio	04/774
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev H Foston

30 May 1904

Lewis James Tapp
Violette Maud Barker

Lewis James Tapp
Violette Maud Barker
💍 1904/1674

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

21
19

Renwicktown
Wairau Valley

21 years
19 years

Mr E Barker's residence

04/775

Mr E Barker, father

30 May 1904

Rev J Smith

No	32
Date of Notice	30 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis James Tapp	Violette Maud Barker
	💍 1904/1674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Wairau Valley
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Mr E Barker's residence
Folio	04/775
Consent	Mr E Barker, father
Date of Certificate	30 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J Smith

31 May 1904

Arthur Eley Waugh
Evelyn Osgood

Arthur Eley Waugh
Evelyn Osgood
💍 1904/1692

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

23
19

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
19 years

Mr Osgood's residence

04/771

Mrs S Osgood, mother

31 May 1904

Rev W O Robb

No	33
Date of Notice	31 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Eley Waugh	Evelyn Osgood
	💍 1904/1692
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Mr Osgood's residence
Folio	04/771
Consent	Mrs S Osgood, mother
Date of Certificate	31 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev W O Robb

7 June 1904

John Henry Swafford
Ellen McColl Blick

John Henry Swafford
Ellen McColl Blick
💍 1904/1693

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
20

Okaramio
Okaramio

3 days
20 years

Rev W O Robb's residence

04/772

Mr J Blick, father

7 June 1904

Rev W O Robb

No	34
Date of Notice	7 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Swafford	Ellen McColl Blick
	💍 1904/1693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Okaramio	Okaramio
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Rev W O Robb's residence
Folio	04/772
Consent	Mr J Blick, father
Date of Certificate	7 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev W O Robb

14 June 1904

George Church
Elizabeth Prindivole

George Church
Elizabeth Prindiville
💍 1904/1677

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

8 days
24 years

Mr Prindivole's residence

04/778

14 June 1904

Rev L C Servajian

No	35
Date of Notice	14 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Church	Elizabeth Prindivole
BDM Match (95%)	George Church	Elizabeth Prindiville
	💍 1904/1677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	8 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Mr Prindivole's residence
Folio	04/778
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev L C Servajian

22 June 1904

William Henry Hammond
Catherine June Jordan

William Henry Hammond
Catherine Jane Jordan
💍 1904/1694

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
24

Fairhall
Renwicktown

32 years
24 years

Mr C Jordan's residence

04/773

22 June 1904

Rev W O Robb

No	36
Date of Notice	22 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hammond	Catherine June Jordan
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Hammond	Catherine Jane Jordan
	💍 1904/1694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Fairhall	Renwicktown
Length of Residence	32 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Mr C Jordan's residence
Folio	04/773
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev W O Robb

24 June 1904

Robert Tulloch
Marion McCartney

Robert Tulloch
Marion McArtney
💍 1904/1690

Bachelor
Widow

Produce Dealer

42
32

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
6 weeks

Mr Hearn's residence

04/779

24 June 1904

Rev G W J Spence

No	37
Date of Notice	24 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Tulloch	Marion McCartney
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Tulloch	Marion McArtney
	💍 1904/1690
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Produce Dealer
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Mr Hearn's residence
Folio	04/779
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev G W J Spence

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).