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 180

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar Benjamin Harper

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

8 January 1904

Patrick Michael O'Donnell
Catherine Ann Donovan

Patrick Michael O'Donnell
Catherine Anne Donovan
💍 1904/3872

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

31
26

Greymouth
Greymouth

31 years
18 months

The Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth

04/981

8 January 1904

Dean Carew

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Michael O'Donnell	Catherine Ann Donovan
BDM Match (98%)	Patrick Michael O'Donnell	Catherine Anne Donovan
	💍 1904/3872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	31 years	18 months
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth
Folio	04/981
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Dean Carew

11 January 1904

Nicholas Joyce
Margaret Alice Byrne

Nicholas Joyce
Margaret Alice Byrne
💍 1904/3881

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
27

Rangiora
Paroa

3 weeks
27 years

Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth

04/983

11 January 1904

Rev. H. Herbert

No	2
Date of Notice	11 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas Joyce	Margaret Alice Byrne
	💍 1904/3881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Paroa
Length of Residence	3 weeks	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth
Folio	04/983
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Herbert

11 January 1904

William Ainsworth
Elizabeth Ann Taylor

William Ainsworth
Elizabeth Anne Taylor
💍 1904/3873

Bachelor
Spinster

Governor orderly
Compositor

34
25

Wellington
Greymouth

3 weeks
10 years

Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth

04/982

11 January 1904

Rev. J. Ainsworth

No	3
Date of Notice	11 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ainsworth	Elizabeth Ann Taylor
BDM Match (98%)	William Ainsworth	Elizabeth Anne Taylor
	💍 1904/3873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Governor orderly	Compositor
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth
Folio	04/982
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ainsworth

13 January 1904

John Fairweather Moonlight
Azalea May Haines

John Fairweather Moonlight
Azalia May Haines
💍 1904/3302

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

35
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 months
8 months

The Private Residence of Mr. George Stanton, Kokiri

04/929

13 January 1904

Rev. C. W. Place

No	4
Date of Notice	13 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fairweather Moonlight	Azalea May Haines
BDM Match (97%)	John Fairweather Moonlight	Azalia May Haines
	💍 1904/3302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 months	8 months
Marriage Place	The Private Residence of Mr. George Stanton, Kokiri
Folio	04/929
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Place

23 January 1904

Charles Lloyd Bronce
Ellen Maud Cantwell

Charles Lloyd Morice
Ellen Maud Cantwell
💍 1904/2479

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon

69
60

Greymouth
Greymouth

37 years
37 years

The Private residence of Charles Lloyd Bronce, Surgeon, Greymouth

04/3610

23 January 1904

Rev. H. Herbert

No	5
Date of Notice	23 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Lloyd Bronce	Ellen Maud Cantwell
BDM Match (90%)	Charles Lloyd Morice	Ellen Maud Cantwell
	💍 1904/2479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon
Age	69	60
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	37 years	37 years
Marriage Place	The Private residence of Charles Lloyd Bronce, Surgeon, Greymouth
Folio	04/3610
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Herbert

1 February 1904

David Dunwoodie
Jessie Leach

David Dunwoodie
Jessie Leach
💍 1904/3865

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

34
28

Paroa
Paroa

7 months
28 years

The Private residence of Mrs. Martha Gilbert, Paroa

04/975

1 February 1904

Rev. Rod. Stewart

No	6
Date of Notice	1 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Dunwoodie	Jessie Leach
	💍 1904/3865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Paroa	Paroa
Length of Residence	7 months	28 years
Marriage Place	The Private residence of Mrs. Martha Gilbert, Paroa
Folio	04/975
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Rod. Stewart

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).