Intentions to Marry, 1900 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840417, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, September 12 2025

1900 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 159

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar S. H. James

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

8 January 1900

John Whittington
Elizabeth Alice Riley

John Whittington
Elizabeth Alice Riley
💍 1900/280

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

26
30

Ngaire
Midhurst

3 months
4 days

The Office of the Registrar at Stratford

00/319

8 January 1900

S. H. James, Registrar, Stratford

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Whittington	Elizabeth Alice Riley
	💍 1900/280
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Ngaire	Midhurst
Length of Residence	3 months	4 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	00/319
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1900
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar, Stratford

17 January 1900

Harold Edward Tindall Soey
Eva Catherine Palmer

Harold Edward Tindall Ivey
Eva Catherine Palmer
💍 1900/310

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
35

Stratford
Stratford

1 year
4 months

The Anglican Church at Stratford

00/327

17 January 1900

Rev. S. Hawthorne, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	17 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edward Tindall Soey	Eva Catherine Palmer
BDM Match (96%)	Harold Edward Tindall Ivey	Eva Catherine Palmer
	💍 1900/310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	35
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	1 year	4 months
Marriage Place	The Anglican Church at Stratford
Folio	00/327
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hawthorne, Church of England

27 January 1900

William Horne Hargreaves Young
Elizabeth Jane Duncan

William Harne Hargreaves Young
Elizabeth Jane Duncan
💍 1900/628

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
26

Stratford
Wanganui

3 years
21 years

Christ Church, Wanganui

00/500

27 January 1900

Rev. H. Williams, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	27 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Horne Hargreaves Young	Elizabeth Jane Duncan
BDM Match (98%)	William Harne Hargreaves Young	Elizabeth Jane Duncan
	💍 1900/628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Wanganui
Folio	00/500
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Church of England

2 February 1900

Bertram Augustus Peterson
May Thompson

Bertram Augustus Peterson
May Thompson
💍 1900/311

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
23

Midhurst
Stratford

11 years
4 months

The Residence of John Howarth, Stratford

00/328

2 February 1900

Rev. Sydney Hawthorne, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	2 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Augustus Peterson	May Thompson
	💍 1900/311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	Stratford
Length of Residence	11 years	4 months
Marriage Place	The Residence of John Howarth, Stratford
Folio	00/328
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Sydney Hawthorne, Church of England

14 February 1900

Max John Henry Gernhoefer
Isabella Margaret Cockhead

Max John Henry Gernhoefer
Isabella Margaret Cockhead
💍 1900/281

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
19

Stratford
Stratford

5 years
2 years

The Office of the Registrar at Stratford

00/320

Gernhoefer, father of groom; Cockhead, father of bride

14 February 1900

S. H. James, Registrar, Stratford

No	5
Date of Notice	14 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Max John Henry Gernhoefer	Isabella Margaret Cockhead
	💍 1900/281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	00/320
Consent	Gernhoefer, father of groom; Cockhead, father of bride
Date of Certificate	14 February 1900
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar, Stratford

14 February 1900

Herbert Florence Cameron
Kilmeny Keet Maxwell

Herbert Florence Cameron
Kilmeny Keet Maxwell
💍 1900/301

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
20

Hawera
Toko

5 years
10 years

The Presbyterian Church

00/323

David Maxwell, father of bride

14 February 1900

Rev. George Clement, Primitive Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	14 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Florence Cameron	Kilmeny Keet Maxwell
	💍 1900/301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Toko
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church
Folio	00/323
Consent	David Maxwell, father of bride
Date of Certificate	14 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Clement, Primitive Methodist

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).