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 650

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1904

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

9 March 1904

Leslie Robert Pool Smith
Margaret Hessee Cowie

Leslie Robert Poole Smith
Margaret Hessie Cowie
💍 1904/503

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

23
21

Dunedin
Caversham

3 years
9 years

In St. Peter's Church, Caversham

04/1366

9 March 1904

B. M. King

No	95
Date of Notice	9 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Robert Pool Smith	Margaret Hessee Cowie
BDM Match (96%)	Leslie Robert Poole Smith	Margaret Hessie Cowie
	💍 1904/503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	In St. Peter's Church, Caversham
Folio	04/1366
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1904
Officiating Minister	B. M. King

11 March 1904

Joseph Freebody Jennings
Wilhelmina Bissland

Joseph Freebody Jennings
Wilhelmina Bisslam
💍 1904/573

Widower
Spinster

Gardener
Tailoress

29
30

North East Valley
Dunedin

2 years
30 years

In the Congregational Church, King Street, Dunedin

04/1443

11 March 1904

C. Heighway

No	96
Date of Notice	11 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Freebody Jennings	Wilhelmina Bissland
BDM Match (95%)	Joseph Freebody Jennings	Wilhelmina Bisslam
	💍 1904/573
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Tailoress
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	In the Congregational Church, King Street, Dunedin
Folio	04/1443
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1904
Officiating Minister	C. Heighway

11 March 1904

Arthur Duncan Sutherland
Ethelwyn Gordon

Arthur Duncan Sutherland
Ethelwyn Gordon
💍 1904/1816

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager

31
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
28 years

In Knox Church, Dunedin

04/1395

11 March 1904

Wm. Humstrone

No	97
Date of Notice	11 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Duncan Sutherland	Ethelwyn Gordon
	💍 1904/1816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	04/1395
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Wm. Humstrone

11 March 1904

William Bolton
Margaret Rickards

William Bolton
Margaret Rickards
💍 1904/505

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

27
28

Dunedin
North East Valley

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

04/1345

11 March 1904

H. Maxwell

No	98
Date of Notice	11 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bolton	Margaret Rickards
	💍 1904/505
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	North East Valley
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	04/1345
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1904
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

11 March 1904

Thomas William Martin
Constance Mabel Pardoe

Thomas William Martin
Constance Mabel Pardoe
💍 1904/506

Widower
Spinster

Leather Dresser

41
31

Roslyn
Dunedin

14 years
12 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

04/1346

11 March 1904

H. Maxwell

No	99
Date of Notice	11 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Martin	Constance Mabel Pardoe
	💍 1904/506
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Leather Dresser
Age	41	31
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	04/1346
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1904
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

100

11 March 1904

John Carruthers Stobie
Catherine Ellen Brown

John Carruthers Stobie
Catherine Ellen Brown
💍 1904/528

Bachelor
Spinster

Wharf Labourer

34
33

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
7 years

In St. Joseph's Cathedral Vestry, Dunedin

04/1418

11 March 1904

E. D. Murphy

No	100
Date of Notice	11 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Carruthers Stobie	Catherine Ellen Brown
	💍 1904/528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wharf Labourer
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	04/1418
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1904
Officiating Minister	E. D. Murphy

101

14 March 1904

Carlos Droscher
Ada Mary Smith

Carlos Droscher
Ada Mary Smith
💍 1904/2222

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

36
36

Dunedin
Mornington

1 year
4 years

In St. Peter's Church, Caversham

04/3298

14 March 1904

B. M. King

No	101
Date of Notice	14 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carlos Droscher	Ada Mary Smith
	💍 1904/2222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	In St. Peter's Church, Caversham
Folio	04/3298
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1904
Officiating Minister	B. M. King

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).