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 260

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1904 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

1471

25 November 1904

George Archibald Dickinson
Winifred Smith

George Archibald Dickinson
Winifred Smith
💍 1904/6191

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
domestic duties

26
26

Ashburton
Ashburton

11 years
50 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

04/6196

25 November 1904

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	1471
Date of Notice	25 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Archibald Dickinson	Winifred Smith
	💍 1904/6191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	domestic duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	11 years	50 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	04/6196
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

1472

30 November 1904

Charles Russell Thomas
Mary Caroline Butler

Charles Russell Thomas
Mary Caroline Butler
💍 1904/6218

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookseller
domestic duties

22
28

Ashburton
Ashburton

16 months
3 years

At the house of Mr. Sarah Wheeler Cameron Street Ashburton

04/6206

30 November 1904

Rev. Alfred Peters

No	1472
Date of Notice	30 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Russell Thomas	Mary Caroline Butler
	💍 1904/6218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookseller	domestic duties
Age	22	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	16 months	3 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Sarah Wheeler Cameron Street Ashburton
Folio	04/6206
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters

1473

3 December 1904

William Henry Rhodes
Mabel Connon

William Henry Rhodes
Mabel Connon
💍 1904/6181

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Teacher, Magister artium

24
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 days
2 months

Registrar's Office Ashburton

04/6187

3 December 1904

W. W. White Registrar Ashburton

No	1473
Date of Notice	3 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Rhodes	Mabel Connon
	💍 1904/6181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Teacher, Magister artium
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Ashburton
Folio	04/6187
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1904
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar Ashburton

1474

2 December 1904

Peter Henry Hyndman
Emma Elizabeth Shearman

Peter Henry Hyndmann
Emma Elizabeth Shearman
💍 1904/6199

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
domestic duties

59
54

Christchurch
Ashburton

24 years
24 years

Church of Christ St Stephens Church Ashburton

04/6197

2 December 1904

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	1474
Date of Notice	2 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Henry Hyndman	Emma Elizabeth Shearman
BDM Match (98%)	Peter Henry Hyndmann	Emma Elizabeth Shearman
	💍 1904/6199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	domestic duties
Age	59	54
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ St Stephens Church Ashburton
Folio	04/6197
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

1475

5 December 1904

Edward James Staples
Elizabeth Stribbling

Edward James Staples
Elizabeth Stribbling
💍 1904/6204

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
domestic duties

51
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

04/6202

5 December 1904

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	1475
Date of Notice	5 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Staples	Elizabeth Stribbling
	💍 1904/6204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	domestic duties
Age	51	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	04/6202
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

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).