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 182

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

24 February 1904

William Robertson
Jessie Robertson

William Robertson
Jessie Emma Robertson
💍 1904/3866

Bachelor
Spinster

Rake

24
24

Greymouth
Greymouth

5 months
1 year

The private residence of Mrs. Adams, Robertson's Passons Hill, Greymouth

04/976

24 February 1904

Rev. Robt. Stewart

No	12
Date of Notice	24 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robertson	Jessie Robertson
BDM Match (88%)	William Robertson	Jessie Emma Robertson
	💍 1904/3866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rake
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 months	1 year
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mrs. Adams, Robertson's Passons Hill, Greymouth
Folio	04/976
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. Stewart

26 February 1904

John Roderick Warren
Sarah Jane Foster

John Roderick Warren
Sarah Jane Foster
💍 1904/3869

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

29
25

Barrytown
Cobden

3 years
15 years

The private residence of Mrs. Margaret Foster, Cobden

04/978

26 February 1904

Rev. Robt. Stewart

No	13
Date of Notice	26 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Roderick Warren	Sarah Jane Foster
	💍 1904/3869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Barrytown	Cobden
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mrs. Margaret Foster, Cobden
Folio	04/978
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. Stewart

4 March 1904

Harry Clement Harley
Elizabeth Hepburn Holder

Harry Clement Harley
Mary Elizabeth Heybourne Holder
💍 1904/3871

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

28
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

7 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church at Greymouth

04/980

4 March 1904

Rev. Robt. Stewart

No	14
Date of Notice	4 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Clement Harley	Elizabeth Hepburn Holder
BDM Match (87%)	Harry Clement Harley	Mary Elizabeth Heybourne Holder
	💍 1904/3871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	7 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Greymouth
Folio	04/980
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. Stewart

5 March 1904

Samuel George William Compton
Mary Margaret Brown

Samuel George William Compton
Mary Margaret Brown
💍 1904/3862

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

24
18

Greymouth
Greymouth

5 months
5 years

Church of England

04/971

James Brown, father

5 March 1904

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	15
Date of Notice	5 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel George William Compton	Mary Margaret Brown
	💍 1904/3862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	04/971
Consent	James Brown, father
Date of Certificate	5 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

5 March 1904

John Mechan
Ethel Ellen Macfie

John Meehan
Ethel Ellen Macfie
💍 1904/3870

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

30
23

Dunganville
Dunganville

2 years
3 years

The private residence of Mr. John Macfie, Dunganville

04/979

5 March 1904

Rev. Robt. Stewart

No	16
Date of Notice	5 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mechan	Ethel Ellen Macfie
BDM Match (95%)	John Meehan	Ethel Ellen Macfie
	💍 1904/3870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Dunganville	Dunganville
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mr. John Macfie, Dunganville
Folio	04/979
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. 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).