Intentions to Marry, 1900 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840418, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 12 2025

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

Page 156

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1900 Registrar St 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

15 July 1900

Frederick William West
Mary Davies

Frederick William Webb
Mary Gwillim Davies
💍 1900/4105

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

30
27

Stratford
Stratford

2 years

Hometh The Anglican Church at Stratford

00/4450

15 July 1900

Rev. H. B. Bayes, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	15 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William West	Mary Davies
BDM Match (74%)	Frederick William Webb	Mary Gwillim Davies
	💍 1900/4105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence		2 years
Marriage Place	Hometh The Anglican Church at Stratford
Folio	00/4450
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Bayes, Church of England

12 July 1900

Sidney Arthur Ward
Annie Sophia Doughty

Sidney Arthur Ward
Annie Sophia Doughty
💍 1900/3560

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

22
22

Stratford
Stratford

15 years

The Residence of W. M. Doughty, Stratford

00/3044

12 July 1900

Rev. B. Watson, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	12 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Arthur Ward	Annie Sophia Doughty
	💍 1900/3560
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence		15 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of W. M. Doughty, Stratford
Folio	00/3044
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Watson, Presbyterian

21 July 1900

Frederick Owen Evans
Alice Maud Garrett

Frederick Owen Evans
Alice Maud Garrett
💍 1900/1772

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

31
18

Rowan
Rowan

2 years
9 years

The Office of the Registrar at Stratford

00/3036

Margaret Brooking, Mother

21 July 1900

S.H. James, Registrar, Stratford

No	28
Date of Notice	21 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Owen Evans	Alice Maud Garrett
	💍 1900/1772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	31	18
Dwelling Place	Rowan	Rowan
Length of Residence	2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	00/3036
Consent	Margaret Brooking, Mother
Date of Certificate	21 July 1900
Officiating Minister	S.H. James, Registrar, Stratford

31 July 1900

William George Reid
Elizabeth Baxter Cornett

William George Reid
Elizabeth Baxter Connett
💍 1900/4440

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager, Timber Yard

30
27

Stratford
Bell Block

2 1/2 years
7 years

The Primitive Methodist Church at Bell Block

00/1416

31 July 1900

Rev. J. Ruxin, Primitive Methodist

No	29
Date of Notice	31 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Reid	Elizabeth Baxter Cornett
BDM Match (98%)	William George Reid	Elizabeth Baxter Connett
	💍 1900/4440
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager, Timber Yard
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Bell Block
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The Primitive Methodist Church at Bell Block
Folio	00/1416
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ruxin, Primitive Methodist

31 July 1900

Arthur James Hobson
Clara Annie Zimmermann

Arthur James Goodwin
Agnes Annie Zimmermann
💍 1900/1776

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
21

Midhurst
Midhurst

10 years

The Roman Catholic Church at Stratford

00/3040

31 July 1900

Rev. R. Johnson, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	31 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Hobson	Clara Annie Zimmermann
BDM Match (76%)	Arthur James Goodwin	Agnes Annie Zimmermann
	💍 1900/1776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	Midhurst
Length of Residence		10 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Stratford
Folio	00/3040
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Johnson, Roman Catholic

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).