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 838

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

1 June 1904

John Burgess
Christina Hardy

John Burgess
Christina Hardy
💍 1904/2875

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
27

Maitland Street, Invercargill
Maitland Street, Invercargill

25 years
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

04/3459

David Hardy, Father

1 June 1904

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	77
Date of Notice	1 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Burgess	Christina Hardy
	💍 1904/2875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Maitland Street, Invercargill	Maitland Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	04/3459
Consent	David Hardy, Father
Date of Certificate	1 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

2 June 1904

Arthur Gordon Thomson
Alice Kate Dickinson

Arthur Gordon Thomson
Alice Kate Dickinson
💍 1904/2351

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

22
27

Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Kelvin Street, Invercargill

22 years
1 year

Residence of Geo. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, Invercargill

04/3471

2 June 1904

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	78
Date of Notice	2 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Gordon Thomson	Alice Kate Dickinson
	💍 1904/2351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street, Invercargill	Kelvin Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Geo. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/3471
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

6 June 1904

Cress Stanley Plunket Free
Jeanie Stevenson Harrison

Cressie Stanley Plunket Free
Jeannie Stephenson Harrison
💍 1904/2352

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
25

Tweed Street, Invercargill
Tweed Street, Invercargill

4 days
1 year

Residence of Robert John, Tweed Street, Invercargill

04/3472

6 June 1904

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	79
Date of Notice	6 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cress Stanley Plunket Free	Jeanie Stevenson Harrison
BDM Match (91%)	Cressie Stanley Plunket Free	Jeannie Stephenson Harrison
	💍 1904/2352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Tweed Street, Invercargill	Tweed Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert John, Tweed Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/3472
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

7 June 1904

Charles Herbert Humphries
Mary Waddell

Charles Herbert Humphries
Mary Waddill
💍 1904/2871

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

27
20

Earl Street, Invercargill
Earl Street, Invercargill

2 months
21 years

Residence of Jane Humphries, Earl Street, Invercargill

04/3454

7 June 1904

Rev. R. Raes

No	80
Date of Notice	7 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Humphries	Mary Waddell
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Herbert Humphries	Mary Waddill
	💍 1904/2871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Earl Street, Invercargill	Earl Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Jane Humphries, Earl Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/3454
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raes

8 June 1904

Henry Edward Anthony
Margaret O'Brien

Henry Edward Anthony
Margaret O'Brien
💍 1904/2870

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger Salesman
Saleswoman

30
25

Tweed Street, Invercargill
Bowmont Street, Invercargill

3 days
18 years

Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

04/3452

8 June 1904

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	81
Date of Notice	8 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edward Anthony	Margaret O'Brien
	💍 1904/2870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger Salesman	Saleswoman
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Tweed Street, Invercargill	Bowmont Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	04/3452
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

8 June 1904

James Dunlop
Alice Frobarth

James Dunlop
Alice Frobarth
💍 1904/2353

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Waitress

26
30

Clyde Street, Invercargill
Tweed Street, Invercargill

3 days
8 years

Residence of August Frobarth, Tweed Street, Invercargill

04/3473

8 June 1904

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	82
Date of Notice	8 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dunlop	Alice Frobarth
	💍 1904/2353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Waitress
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Clyde Street, Invercargill	Tweed Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of August Frobarth, Tweed Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/3473
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

11 June 1904

John Corbett
Clara Woollett

John Corbett
Clara Woollett
💍 1904/2348

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

26
26

Tay Street, Invercargill
Tweed Street, Invercargill

3 weeks
2 weeks

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

04/3460

11 June 1904

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	83
Date of Notice	11 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Corbett	Clara Woollett
	💍 1904/2348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Tay Street, Invercargill	Tweed Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	04/3460
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

14 June 1904

Ernest Walter Sutton
Matilda Lennock Wallace

Ernest Walter Sutton
Matilda Lennock Wallace
💍 1904/6932

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
23

Dee Street, Invercargill
Georgetown, Invercargill

3 days
18 months

Residence of Percy S. Brodel, Georgetown, Invercargill

04/3439

14 June 1904

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	84
Date of Notice	14 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Walter Sutton	Matilda Lennock Wallace
	💍 1904/6932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Georgetown, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Percy S. Brodel, Georgetown, Invercargill
Folio	04/3439
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

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).