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 825

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar J. J. Petro

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

19 January 1904

Edmund Keast
Alice Cowell

Edmund Keast
Alice Cowell
💍 1904/584

Divorced
Spinster

Compositor
Domestic

34
21

East Invercargill
North Invercargill

26 years
17 years

Residence of W. H. Lemon, Intharles Street, East Invercargill

04/1479

19 January 1904

Rev. W. R. Mitchell

No	8
Date of Notice	19 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Keast	Alice Cowell
	💍 1904/584
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	Domestic
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	East Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	26 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. Lemon, Intharles Street, East Invercargill
Folio	04/1479
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Mitchell

21 January 1904

Abraham Richardson
Agnes Boyd

Abraham Richardson
Agnes Boyd
💍 1904/590

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

32
23

Don Street, Invercargill
Don Street, Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

04/1462

21 January 1904

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	9
Date of Notice	21 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abraham Richardson	Agnes Boyd
	💍 1904/590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Don Street, Invercargill	Don Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	04/1462
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

25 January 1904

Joseph William Ferris
Edith Mary McLeod

Joseph William Ferris
Edith Mary McIvor
💍 1904/591

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

29
21

Tay Street, Invercargill
Tay Street, Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

04/1463

25 January 1904

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	10
Date of Notice	25 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Ferris	Edith Mary McLeod
BDM Match (91%)	Joseph William Ferris	Edith Mary McIvor
	💍 1904/591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	29	21
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	04/1463
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

25 January 1904

James Murphy
Margaret Stanton

James Murphy
Margaret Staunton
💍 1904/794

James Murphy
Margaret Carruth
💍 1904/1249

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
23

Grove Bush, Invercargill
Ned Plains, Invercargill

3 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Waikiwi, Invercargill

04/1681

25 January 1904

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	11
Date of Notice	25 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Murphy	Margaret Stanton
BDM Match (97%)	James Murphy	Margaret Staunton
	💍 1904/794
BDM Match (78%)	James Murphy	Margaret Carruth
	💍 1904/1249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Grove Bush, Invercargill	Ned Plains, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Waikiwi, Invercargill
Folio	04/1681
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

30 January 1904

William Alexander Gaffney
Margaret May Richards

William Alexander Gaffney
Margaret May Richards
💍 1904/7070

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

29
26

Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Jed Street, Invercargill

36 years
16 years

Residence of Richard Richards, Jed Street, Invercargill

04/1481

30 January 1904

Rev. R. Ferguson

No	12
Date of Notice	30 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Gaffney	Margaret May Richards
	💍 1904/7070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street, Invercargill	Jed Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	36 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard Richards, Jed Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1481
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson

29 January 1904

Daniel O'Kane
Ann Maria Dawson

Dan O'Kane
Ann Maria Dawson
💍 1904/6848

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

40
29

Clydetown, Invercargill
George Street, Invercargill

1 week
29 years

Roman Catholic Church, Eye Street, Invercargill

04/1682

29 January 1904

Very Rev. W. Burke

No	13
Date of Notice	29 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel O'Kane	Ann Maria Dawson
BDM Match (88%)	Dan O'Kane	Ann Maria Dawson
	💍 1904/6848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Clydetown, Invercargill	George Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 week	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Eye Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1682
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. Burke

30 January 1904

Robert Ferguson
Sabina Mary Town

Robert Ferguson
Sebina Mary Town
💍 1904/602

Bachelor
Spinster

Patternmaker
Domestic

24
20

Peel Street, Invercargill
Gala Street, Invercargill

20 years
20 years

Residence of Charles Town, Gala Street, Invercargill

04/1485

30 January 1904

Rev. G. Lindsay

No	14
Date of Notice	30 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ferguson	Sabina Mary Town
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Ferguson	Sebina Mary Town
	💍 1904/602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Patternmaker	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Peel Street, Invercargill	Gala Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Charles Town, Gala Street, Invercargill
Folio	04/1485
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay

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).