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 183

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar Marke

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 March 1904

Ambrose Lewis Sheppard
Florence Gertrude Herring

Ambrose Lewis Sheppard
Florence Gertrude Herring
💍 1904/3864

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

26
19

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 days
2 years

The Church of England, Greymouth

04/973

James Herring, Father

16 March 1904

Rev. F. W. York

No	17
Date of Notice	16 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ambrose Lewis Sheppard	Florence Gertrude Herring
	💍 1904/3864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	04/973
Consent	James Herring, Father
Date of Certificate	16 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. York

16 March 1904

James Charles Arthur Wilson
Alyce Caroline Agnes Dearing

James Charles Arthur Wilson
Alyce Caroline Agnes Dearing
💍 1904/3863

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover

21
18

Totara Flat
Greymouth

3 days
18 years

The private residence of Mr. Henry Dearing of Greymouth

04/972

Henry Dearing, Father

16 March 1904

Rev. F. W. York

No	18
Date of Notice	16 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Charles Arthur Wilson	Alyce Caroline Agnes Dearing
	💍 1904/3863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Totara Flat	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mr. Henry Dearing of Greymouth
Folio	04/972
Consent	Henry Dearing, Father
Date of Certificate	16 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. York

28 March 1904

Alfred Ernest Kilgour
Gertrude Forrest

Alfred Ernest Kilgour
Gertrude Forrest
💍 1904/6949

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic

26
23

Denniston
Greymouth

3 days
3 years

Church of England, Greymouth

04/974

28 March 1904

Rev. F. W. York

No	19
Date of Notice	28 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Kilgour	Gertrude Forrest
	💍 1904/6949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	04/974
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. York

29 March 1904

Percival Sydney Beck
Leah Lemon Dunford

Percival Sydney Beck
Leah Lemona Dunford
💍 1904/1780

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

25
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

2 years
8 years

Church of England, Greymouth

04/2822

29 March 1904

Rev. F. W. York

No	20
Date of Notice	29 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Sydney Beck	Leah Lemon Dunford
BDM Match (97%)	Percival Sydney Beck	Leah Lemona Dunford
	💍 1904/1780
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	04/2822
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. York

29 March 1904

Louis Thomas James Rohloff
Nora Kathleen Sullivan

Louis Thomas Rohloff
Nora Catherine Sullivan
💍 1904/7073

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

29
31

Greymouth
Greymouth

14 years
14 years

The private residence of Mr. Sullivan, Greymouth

04/2879

29 March 1904

Rev. H. Herbert

No	21
Date of Notice	29 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Thomas James Rohloff	Nora Kathleen Sullivan
BDM Match (78%)	Louis Thomas Rohloff	Nora Catherine Sullivan
	💍 1904/7073
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mr. Sullivan, Greymouth
Folio	04/2879
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Herbert

30 March 1904

Andrew Doig
Elizabeth Panckhurst

Andrew Doig
Elizabeth Frankhurst
💍 1904/1784

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

22
23

Wanganui
Greymouth

4 days
23 years

Methodist Church, Greymouth

04/2826

30 March 1904

Rev. J. Hustrail

No	22
Date of Notice	30 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Doig	Elizabeth Panckhurst
BDM Match (93%)	Andrew Doig	Elizabeth Frankhurst
	💍 1904/1784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Greymouth
Folio	04/2826
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hustrail

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).