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 844

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 30 September 1904 Registrar John Gannon

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

110

29 July 1904

Fredrick Albert Field
Vivien Eleanor Turner

Fredrick Albert Field
Vivien Eleanor Turner
💍 1904/305

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

22
16

Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
O'Hara Street South, INVERCARGILL

22 years
16 years

Residence of Rev G. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL

04/4946

Benjamin James Turner, Father

29 July 1904

Rev Geo Lindsay

No	110
Date of Notice	29 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Albert Field	Vivien Eleanor Turner
	💍 1904/305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Tay Street, INVERCARGILL	O'Hara Street South, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	22 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev G. Lindsay, Kelvin Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/4946
Consent	Benjamin James Turner, Father
Date of Certificate	29 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Lindsay

111

1 August 1904

Charles Ludwig August
Mary Jane Strang

Charles Ludwig August
Mary Jane Strang
💍 1904/4062

Bachelor
Spinster

Furniture Manufacturer
Domestic

22
26

Spey Street, INVERCARGILL
Esk Street, INVERCARGILL

2 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

04/4931

1 August 1904

Rev R. Ferguson

No	111
Date of Notice	1 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ludwig August	Mary Jane Strang
	💍 1904/4062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Furniture Manufacturer	Domestic
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Spey Street, INVERCARGILL	Esk Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/4931
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Ferguson

112

3 August 1904

John Walker
Mary Brownlie

John Wyner
Mary Brownlie
💍 1904/4081

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

26
21

Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL

3 days
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

04/4926

3 August 1904

Rev R. Ferguson

No	112
Date of Notice	3 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walker	Mary Brownlie
BDM Match (86%)	John Wyner	Mary Brownlie
	💍 1904/4081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, INVERCARGILL	Tweed Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/4926
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Ferguson

113

3 August 1904

Sydney James Ridd
Margaret Jessie Mainland

Sydney James Kidd
Margaret Jane Mainland
💍 1904/4082

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic

26
22

Gray St. E, INVERCARGILL
Gala Street, INVERCARGILL

1 month
3 days

Residence of Rev R. Ferguson, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL

04/4927

3 August 1904

Rev R. Ferguson

No	113
Date of Notice	3 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney James Ridd	Margaret Jessie Mainland
BDM Match (89%)	Sydney James Kidd	Margaret Jane Mainland
	💍 1904/4082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Gray St. E, INVERCARGILL	Gala Street, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	1 month	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev R. Ferguson, Tay Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/4927
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Ferguson

114

3 August 1904

George Daley
Amy Anderson

George Daley
Amy Anderson
💍 1904/314

George Pirie
Rose Anderson
💍 1904/5516

George Gillespie
Clara Anderson
💍 1904/5525

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
School teacher

33
28

Jackson St. E, INVERCARGILL
Jackson St. E, INVERCARGILL

1 day
6 days

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, INVERCARGILL

04/4947

3 August 1904

Rev Geo Lindsay

No	114
Date of Notice	3 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Daley	Amy Anderson
	💍 1904/314
BDM Match (64%)	George Pirie	Rose Anderson
	💍 1904/5516
BDM Match (60%)	George Gillespie	Clara Anderson
	💍 1904/5525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	School teacher
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Jackson St. E, INVERCARGILL	Jackson St. E, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	1 day	6 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/4947
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Lindsay

115

4 August 1904

Michael Moffitt
Annie Martha McKechnie

MIchael Moffitt
Annie Martha McKechnie
💍 1904/4083

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
21

East Road, INVERCARGILL
East Road, INVERCARGILL

3 weeks
2 months

Residence of James McKechnie, East Road, INVERCARGILL

04/4928

4 August 1904

Rev R. Ferguson

No	115
Date of Notice	4 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Moffitt	Annie Martha McKechnie
BDM Match (97%)	MIchael Moffitt	Annie Martha McKechnie
	💍 1904/4083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	East Road, INVERCARGILL	East Road, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of James McKechnie, East Road, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/4928
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Ferguson

116

6 August 1904

George Robert Smith
Jeannie Martin

George Robert Smith
Jennie Martin
💍 1904/4075

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer
Domestic

27
21

Avenal, INVERCARGILL
Gladstone, INVERCARGILL

6 months
21 years

Baptist Church, Esk Street, Invercargill

04/4943

6 August 1904

Rev John Muirhead

No	116
Date of Notice	6 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robert Smith	Jeannie Martin
BDM Match (96%)	George Robert Smith	Jennie Martin
	💍 1904/4075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Avenal, INVERCARGILL	Gladstone, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	6 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Esk Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/4943
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev John Muirhead

117

8 August 1904

John Ewan
Margaret Wilson

John Euan
Margaret Wilson
💍 1904/315

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
23

Gladstone, INVERCARGILL
Gladstone, INVERCARGILL

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, INVERCARGILL

04/4948

8 August 1904

Rev C. Barron

No	117
Date of Notice	8 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ewan	Margaret Wilson
BDM Match (94%)	John Euan	Margaret Wilson
	💍 1904/315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Gladstone, INVERCARGILL	Gladstone, INVERCARGILL
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, INVERCARGILL
Folio	04/4948
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Barron

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).