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 643

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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 February 1904

Joseph Charles Bates
Annie Essex

Joseph Charles Bates
Annie Essex
💍 1904/499

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapers Assistant

23 1/2 years
22 years

Dunedin
Caversham

3 years
7 years

In St Peters Church Caversham

04/1362

2 February 1904

B M King

No	44
Date of Notice	2 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Charles Bates	Annie Essex
	💍 1904/499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapers Assistant
Age	23 1/2 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In St Peters Church Caversham
Folio	04/1362
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1904
Officiating Minister	B M King

2 February 1904

Albert Goodman
Martha Burgess

Albert Goodman
Martha Burgess
💍 1904/470

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse trainer

26 years
21 years

Caversham
Dunedin

26 years
12 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

04/1334

2 February 1904

H Maxwell

No	45
Date of Notice	2 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Goodman	Martha Burgess
	💍 1904/470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse trainer
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	12 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	04/1334
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1904
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

3 February 1904

James Henry Seymour
Clara Essex

James Henry Seymour
Clara Essex
💍 1904/498

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Mechanic
Tailoress

24 years
24 years

South Dunedin
Caversham

3 years
7 years

In St Peters Church Caversham

04/1361

3 February 1904

B M King

No	46
Date of Notice	3 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Seymour	Clara Essex
	💍 1904/498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Mechanic	Tailoress
Age	24 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In St Peters Church Caversham
Folio	04/1361
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1904
Officiating Minister	B M King

4 February 1904

James Carroll
Annie Orluski

James Carroll
Annie Orluski
💍 1904/549

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Barmaid

28 years
24 years

Maori Hill
Dunedin

20 years
10 years

In St Josephs Cathedral Dunedin

04/1415

4 February 1904

P Murphy

No	47
Date of Notice	4 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Carroll	Annie Orluski
	💍 1904/549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Barmaid
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Maori Hill	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In St Josephs Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	04/1415
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1904
Officiating Minister	P Murphy

4 February 1904

John James Herbert McLaughlen
Amy Elsie Brice

John James Herbert McLaughlin
Amy Elsie Brice
💍 1904/550

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
14 months

In St Josephs Cathedral Dunedin

04/1416

4 February 1904

P Murphy

No	48
Date of Notice	4 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Herbert McLaughlen	Amy Elsie Brice
BDM Match (98%)	John James Herbert McLaughlin	Amy Elsie Brice
	💍 1904/550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	14 months
Marriage Place	In St Josephs Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	04/1416
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1904
Officiating Minister	P Murphy

5 February 1904

Richard Joseph Coughlan
Charlotte Rafferty

Richard Joseph Coughlan
Charlotte Rafferty
💍 1904/471

Bachelor
Spinster

Bottler

22 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

22 years
5 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

04/1335

5 February 1904

H Maxwell

No	49
Date of Notice	5 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Joseph Coughlan	Charlotte Rafferty
	💍 1904/471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bottler
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	04/1335
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1904
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

6 February 1904

Robert Henderson Cardno
Margaret Ann Sim

Robert Henderson Cardno
Margaret Ann Sim
💍 1904/536

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Master

39 years
35 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
3 days

In the house of the Revd M. A. Sinclair Fernhill Street Dunedin

04/1426

6 February 1904

M. A. Sinclair

No	50
Date of Notice	6 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henderson Cardno	Margaret Ann Sim
	💍 1904/536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Master
Age	39 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd M. A. Sinclair Fernhill Street Dunedin
Folio	04/1426
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1904
Officiating Minister	M. A. Sinclair

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).