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 985

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 30 September 1904 Registrar Robert Hulson Paterson

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

16 July 1904

Colin Barkly Sutherland
Margaret Sarah Green

Colin Barkly Sutherland
Margaret Sarah Green
💍 1904/5505

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic duties

29
20

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers, George Street

3 days
15 years

Residence of Sarah Green

04/5000

16 July 1904

Rev. Edward Taylor

No	12
Date of Notice	16 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Barkly Sutherland	Margaret Sarah Green
	💍 1904/5505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers, George Street
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Sarah Green
Folio	04/5000
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Taylor

19 July 1904

George Charles Roy
Mary Ann Rollins

George Charles Roy
Mary Ann Rollins
💍 1904/5506

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
32

Purakanui
Purakanui

3 days
32 years

House of Amos Graham, Purakanui

04/5001

19 July 1904

Rev. Edward Cowper Tennent

No	13
Date of Notice	19 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Charles Roy	Mary Ann Rollins
	💍 1904/5506
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Purakanui	Purakanui
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	House of Amos Graham, Purakanui
Folio	04/5001
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Cowper Tennent

28 July 1904

Charles Reuben Middleditch
Margaret Bain Aitken

Charles Reuben Middleditch
Margaret Bain Aitken
💍 1904/5510

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor
Tailoress

23
23

Sawyers Bay
Sawyers Bay

3 months
3 weeks

Church of England, Port Chalmers

04/5005

28 July 1904

Rev. Thomas Wilson Kewley

No	14
Date of Notice	28 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Reuben Middleditch	Margaret Bain Aitken
	💍 1904/5510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor	Tailoress
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay	Sawyers Bay
Length of Residence	3 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Port Chalmers
Folio	04/5005
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Wilson Kewley

9 August 1904

James Herbert Perry
Helen Caroline Driver

James Herbert Perry
Helen Caroline Driver
💍 1904/5507

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

27
28

Sawyers Bay
Port Chalmers

7 years
3 months

Presbyterian Manse, Sawyers Bay

04/5002

9 August 1904

Rev. Edward Cowper Tennent

No	15
Date of Notice	9 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Herbert Perry	Helen Caroline Driver
	💍 1904/5507
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	7 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Sawyers Bay
Folio	04/5002
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Cowper Tennent

27 August 1904

Arthur Pickering
Jemima Dingwall Abernethy

Arthur Pickering
Jemima Dingwall Abernethy
💍 1904/5509

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
22

Lower Harbour, Port Chalmers
Lower Harbour, Port Chalmers

3 years
22 years

House of James Abernethy, Lower Harbour, Port Chalmers

04/5004

27 August 1904

Rev. Edward Cowper Tennent

No	16
Date of Notice	27 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Pickering	Jemima Dingwall Abernethy
	💍 1904/5509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Lower Harbour, Port Chalmers	Lower Harbour, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of James Abernethy, Lower Harbour, Port Chalmers
Folio	04/5004
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Cowper Tennent

8 September 1904

Percy James Valpy
Mary Short

Percy James Valpy
Mary Short
💍 1904/5508

Bachelor
Spinster

Missionary
Missionary

29
38

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

8 days
3 weeks

Residence of Andrew Thomson, Port Chalmers

04/5003

8 September 1904

Rev. Edward Cowper Tennent

No	17
Date of Notice	8 September 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy James Valpy	Mary Short
	💍 1904/5508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Missionary	Missionary
Age	29	38
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	8 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Andrew Thomson, Port Chalmers
Folio	04/5003
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Cowper Tennent

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).