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 826

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar John Saumon Vetze

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

1 February 1904

James Smith
Sabina Agnes Holmes

James Smith
Seabina Agnes Holmes
💍 1904/6957

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

22
22

Leet Street, INVERCARGILL
Dee Street, INVERCARGILL

7 years
2 years

Residence of William Robertson, Leet Street, Invercargill

04/1493

1 February 1904

Rev J F Reid

No	15
Date of Notice	1 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith	Sabina Agnes Holmes
BDM Match (98%)	James Smith	Seabina Agnes Holmes
	💍 1904/6957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Leet Street, INVERCARGILL	Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Robertson, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1493
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J F Reid

2 February 1904

Andrew Murray Anderson
Rose Ellen Gray Hardock

Andrew Murray Anderson
Rose Ellen May Havelock
💍 1904/596

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

29
22

Avenal, INVERCARGILL
North, INVERCARGILL

29 years
3 days

Residence of Andrew Anderson, Avenal, INVERCARGILL

04/1484

2 February 1904

Rev Geo Lindsay

No	16
Date of Notice	2 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Murray Anderson	Rose Ellen Gray Hardock
BDM Match (89%)	Andrew Murray Anderson	Rose Ellen May Havelock
	💍 1904/596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Avenal, INVERCARGILL	North, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	29 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Andrew Anderson, Avenal, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/1484
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Lindsay

2 February 1904

William Spencer
Christina Coombes

William Spencer
Christina Goomes
💍 1904/592

Bachelor
Spinster

Postman
Domestic

33
28

Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

04/1464

2 February 1904

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	17
Date of Notice	2 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Spencer	Christina Coombes
BDM Match (94%)	William Spencer	Christina Goomes
	💍 1904/592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postman	Domestic
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Tay Street, INVERCARGILL	Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/1464
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

3 February 1904

John Stephen Fahey
Norah Hynes

John Stephen Fahey
Norah Hynes
💍 1904/799

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

40
40

Night Bush, INVERCARGILL
North, INVERCARGILL

5 months
5 days

Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill

04/1683

3 February 1904

Very Rev Dean Burke

No	18
Date of Notice	3 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stephen Fahey	Norah Hynes
	💍 1904/799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Night Bush, INVERCARGILL	North, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	5 months	5 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1683
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Very Rev Dean Burke

4 February 1904

William White
Martha Jane Stewart

William White
Martha Jane Spowart
💍 1904/593

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

36
22

North, INVERCARGILL
North, INVERCARGILL

5 days
5 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

04/1465

4 February 1904

Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

No	19
Date of Notice	4 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William White	Martha Jane Stewart
BDM Match (95%)	William White	Martha Jane Spowart
	💍 1904/593
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	North, INVERCARGILL	North, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/1465
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, INVERCARGILL

6 February 1904

George Augustus Goodsir
Nora Begley

George Augustus Goodsir
Nora Begley
💍 1904/587

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

25
25

East, INVERCARGILL
Gladstone, INVERCARGILL

25 years
8 years

Residence of John Baller, Leven Street, Gladstone, INVERCARGILL

04/1482

6 February 1904

Rev Robert Ferguson

No	20
Date of Notice	6 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Augustus Goodsir	Nora Begley
	💍 1904/587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	East, INVERCARGILL	Gladstone, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	25 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Baller, Leven Street, Gladstone, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/1482
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert Ferguson

8 February 1904

Edward Morris Parks
Maud Adolphene Alice Sandager

Edward Morris Parks
Alice Maud Adolphine Sandager
💍 1904/588

Bachelor
Spinster

Lithographer
Domestic

28
26

Griman Street, INVERCARGILL
Griman Street, INVERCARGILL

4 days
1 month

Residence of Fleming Sandager, Griman Street, INVERCARGILL

04/1483

8 February 1904

Rev John Dunlop

No	21
Date of Notice	8 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Morris Parks	Maud Adolphene Alice Sandager
BDM Match (78%)	Edward Morris Parks	Alice Maud Adolphine Sandager
	💍 1904/588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lithographer	Domestic
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Griman Street, INVERCARGILL	Griman Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	4 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Fleming Sandager, Griman Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/1483
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev John Dunlop

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).