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 1083

District of Winton Quarter ending 30 June 1904 Registrar William Russell

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

265

12 April 1904

Francis Tilley
Edith Dalgarno Cowie

Francis Tilly
Edith Dalgarno Cowie
💍 1904/2461

Bachelor
Spinster

watchmaker

27
25

Winton
Maryfield Farm, Winton

3 1/2 years
25 years

House of Mr John Boure, Maryfield Farm, Winton

04/3567

12 April 1904

Rev. J. M. Duncan, Presbyterian

No	265
Date of Notice	12 April 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Tilley	Edith Dalgarno Cowie
BDM Match (96%)	Francis Tilly	Edith Dalgarno Cowie
	💍 1904/2461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	watchmaker
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Winton	Maryfield Farm, Winton
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr John Boure, Maryfield Farm, Winton
Folio	04/3567
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Duncan, Presbyterian

266

3 May 1904

Martin Prendergast
Mary Flanagan

Martin Prendergast
Mary Flanagan
💍 1904/2462

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
23

Oreti Plains
Oreti Plains

4 days
23 years

House of Mr John Flanagan, Oreti Plains

04/3568

3 May 1904

Rev. F. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

No	266
Date of Notice	3 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Prendergast	Mary Flanagan
	💍 1904/2462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Oreti Plains	Oreti Plains
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr John Flanagan, Oreti Plains
Folio	04/3568
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. O'Neill, Roman Catholic

267

5 May 1904

Albert Lees Byron
Margaret Burgess

Albert Lees Byron
Margaret Burgess
💍 1904/2183

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Barkley
Dipton

4 years
20 years

The Church of England, Dipton

04/3267

Rachel Burgess, mother

7 May 1904

Rev. W. B. Woods, Church of England

No	267
Date of Notice	5 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Lees Byron	Margaret Burgess
	💍 1904/2183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Barkley	Dipton
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England, Dipton
Folio	04/3267
Consent	Rachel Burgess, mother
Date of Certificate	7 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Woods, Church of England

268

25 May 1904

George Edward Garth
Margaret Gutsel

George Edward Garth
Margaret Ethel Gutsell
💍 1904/7197

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
18

Winton
Winton

18 months
18 years

The Church of England, Winton

not issued

Rev. W. B. Woods, Church of England

No	268
Date of Notice	25 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Garth	Margaret Gutsel
BDM Match (84%)	George Edward Garth	Margaret Ethel Gutsell
	💍 1904/7197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	18 months	18 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England, Winton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	not issued
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Woods, Church of England

269

8 June 1904

James Butcher
Lily Wright

James Butcher
Lily Voight
💍 1904/2463

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic Servant

21
25

Winton
Gap Road, Winton

21 years
11 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Winton

04/3569

8 June 1904

William Russell, Registrar

No	269
Date of Notice	8 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Butcher	Lily Wright
BDM Match (91%)	James Butcher	Lily Voight
	💍 1904/2463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic Servant
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Winton	Gap Road, Winton
Length of Residence	21 years	11 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Winton
Folio	04/3569
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1904
Officiating Minister	William Russell, Registrar

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).