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 824

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar John Gaumon Petrie

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

4 January 1904

James Stanton
Catherine Cahill

James Stanton
Catherine Cahill
💍 1904/783

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

42
32

Richmond Grove, Invercargill
Yarrow Street, Invercargill

3 days
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill

04/1680

4 January 1904

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stanton	Catherine Cahill
	💍 1904/783
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Richmond Grove, Invercargill	Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1680
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

5 January 1904

Robert Cupples
Laura Hannah Willett

Robert Cupples
Laura Hannah Willett
💍 1904/582

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
38

Forth Street, Invercargill
Forth Street, Invercargill

5 days
40 years

Residence of Mrs. Willett, Forth Street, Invercargill

04/1477

5 January 1904

Rev. Alexander Hardie

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Cupples	Laura Hannah Willett
	💍 1904/582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	38
Dwelling Place	Forth Street, Invercargill	Forth Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 days	40 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Willett, Forth Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1477
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Hardie

9 January 1904

Alexander Fraser
Mary Jane Niven

Alexander Fraser
Mary Jane Niven
💍 1904/586

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

27
18

Esk Street, Invercargill
Ythan Street, Invercargill

1 week
18 years

Residence of Dr. R. Niven, Ythan Street, Invercargill

04/1480

David Ramsay Niven, Father

9 January 1904

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	3
Date of Notice	9 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Fraser	Mary Jane Niven
	💍 1904/586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, Invercargill	Ythan Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 week	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Dr. R. Niven, Ythan Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1480
Consent	David Ramsay Niven, Father
Date of Certificate	9 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

13 January 1904

John Lewis Whittingham
Florence Jane Sinclair

John Lewis Whittingham
Florence Jane Sinclair
💍 1904/583

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer
Dressmaker

27
26

Tweed Street, Invercargill
Tweed Street, Invercargill

3 days
1 week

Residence of Rev. W. Ritchie, Tweed Street, Invercargill

04/1478

13 January 1904

Rev. W. Ritchie

No	4
Date of Notice	13 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lewis Whittingham	Florence Jane Sinclair
	💍 1904/583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer	Dressmaker
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Tweed Street, Invercargill	Tweed Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. Ritchie, Tweed Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1478
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ritchie

13 January 1904

Murdo McKenzie
Catherine Rae

Murdo McKenzie
Catherine Rea
💍 1904/599

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Housekeeper

45
39

Mill Road, Invercargill
Tweed Street, Invercargill

15 years
1 year

Residence of Catherine Rae, Tweed Street, Invercargill

04/1496

13 January 1904

William G. Allan

No	5
Date of Notice	13 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murdo McKenzie	Catherine Rae
BDM Match (92%)	Murdo McKenzie	Catherine Rea
	💍 1904/599
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	45	39
Dwelling Place	Mill Road, Invercargill	Tweed Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Catherine Rae, Tweed Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1496
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1904
Officiating Minister	William G. Allan

16 January 1904

David Motton
Isabella McBall

David Morton
Isabella McCall
💍 1904/609

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
26

Haward Downs, Invercargill
Haward Downs, Invercargill

1 year
1 year

Residence of Hugh McBall, Haward Downs, Invercargill

04/1492

16 January 1904

Rev. James Aitken

No	6
Date of Notice	16 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Motton	Isabella McBall
BDM Match (93%)	David Morton	Isabella McCall
	💍 1904/609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Haward Downs, Invercargill	Haward Downs, Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Hugh McBall, Haward Downs, Invercargill
Folio	04/1492
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Aitken

18 January 1904

Philip Corry Wright
Marion Fay Stalker

Philip Lowrey Wright
Marion Fey Stocker
💍 1904/577

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

28
20

Kelvin Street, Invercargill
Tay Street, Invercargill

1 year
1 year

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

04/1471

Harry Stalker, Father

18 January 1904

Rev. Andrew Stalker

No	7
Date of Notice	18 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Corry Wright	Marion Fay Stalker
BDM Match (84%)	Philip Lowrey Wright	Marion Fey Stocker
	💍 1904/577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Kelvin Street, Invercargill	Tay Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1471
Consent	Harry Stalker, Father
Date of Certificate	18 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Andrew Stalker

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).