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 073

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar Albert Logie

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

5 January 1904

James Henry May
Mary Anne Russell

James Henry May
Mary Ann Russell
💍 1904/3319

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

32
28

Westport
Westport

3 days
10 months

at the residence of A. Low, 18 Queen St, Westport

04/931

5 January 1904

E. P. Hawes, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry May	Mary Anne Russell
BDM Match (97%)	James Henry May	Mary Ann Russell
	💍 1904/3319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	10 months
Marriage Place	at the residence of A. Low, 18 Queen St, Westport
Folio	04/931
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1904
Officiating Minister	E. P. Hawes, Methodist

22 January 1904

Adam Dunlop
Ethel Anne Duncan

Adam Dunlop
Ethel Anne Duncan
💍 1904/3320

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

35
19

Westport
Westport

2 years
3 1/2 years

at the residence of Mr. John Duncan, Derby Street, Westport

04/932

John Duncan, father

22 January 1904

J. R. Dart, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	22 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Dunlop	Ethel Anne Duncan
	💍 1904/3320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	2 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr. John Duncan, Derby Street, Westport
Folio	04/932
Consent	John Duncan, father
Date of Certificate	22 January 1904
Officiating Minister	J. R. Dart, Church of England

25 January 1904

Alexander Carnegy
Catherine Julia Gunther

Alexander Carnegy
Catherine Julia Junker
💍 1904/3321

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

25
32

Westport
Westport

3 days

In the Church of England, Westport

04/933

28 January 1904

J. R. Dart, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	25 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Carnegy	Catherine Julia Gunther
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Carnegy	Catherine Julia Junker
	💍 1904/3321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25	32
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Church of England, Westport
Folio	04/933
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1904
Officiating Minister	J. R. Dart, Church of England

1 February 1904

Robert William Shallcrass
Hilda Gillow

Robert William Shallcrass
Hilda Gillow
💍 1904/6948

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

33
31

Westport
Westport

15 years
2 1/2 years

In the Church of England, Westport

04/934

1 February 1904

Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	1 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Shallcrass	Hilda Gillow
	💍 1904/6948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	15 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England, Westport
Folio	04/934
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

26 March 1904

George Shadbolt
Jessie McLean

George Shadbolt
Jessie McLean
💍 1904/3322

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24
19

Cape Foulwind
Cape Foulwind

3 weeks
19 years

In the residence of Mr. Francis McLean, Cape Foulwind

04/935

Francis McLean, father

26 March 1904

Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	26 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Shadbolt	Jessie McLean
	💍 1904/3322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Cape Foulwind	Cape Foulwind
Length of Residence	3 weeks	19 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr. Francis McLean, Cape Foulwind
Folio	04/935
Consent	Francis McLean, father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

26 March 1904

John Robert Erskine
Ada Jeffries

John Robert Erskine
Ada Jeffries
💍 1904/1718

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer

21
21

Westport
Westport

16 years
4 days

In the residence of Mr. Robert Erskine, Buller River, South Westport

04/977

26 March 1904

Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	26 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Erskine	Ada Jeffries
	💍 1904/1718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	16 years	4 days
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr. Robert Erskine, Buller River, South Westport
Folio	04/977
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart, 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).