Intentions to Marry, 1905 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840427, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1905 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1905a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1905b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1905c).

Page 159

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1905 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

18 February 1905

Sidney Augustus Mann
Seliste Bertha Anderson

Sidney Augustus Mann
Calista Bertha Anderson
💍 1905/5711

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

40
26

Mahoe
Mahoe

12 years
10 years

Residence of Mr B. R. Anderson, Palmer Road

05/400

18 February 1905

Rev. G. E. Godbehear, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	18 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Augustus Mann	Seliste Bertha Anderson
BDM Match (94%)	Sidney Augustus Mann	Calista Bertha Anderson
	💍 1905/5711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Mahoe	Mahoe
Length of Residence	12 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr B. R. Anderson, Palmer Road
Folio	05/400
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Godbehear, Methodist

18 February 1905

Albert John Harding
Agnes Rose Fisher

Albert John Harding
Agnes Rose Fisher
💍 1905/5718

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

25
31

Mahoe
Oxford, Canterbury

1 1/2 years
3 1/2 years

Church of England, Eltham

See notice

18 February 1905

G. W. J. McConnell, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	18 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Harding	Agnes Rose Fisher
	💍 1905/5718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	25	31
Dwelling Place	Mahoe	Oxford, Canterbury
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Eltham
Folio	See notice
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1905
Officiating Minister	G. W. J. McConnell, Church of England

20 February 1905

William Rose
Johanna Kavanagh

William Rose
Johanna Kavanagh
💍 1905/5708

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33
23

Eltham
Inglewood

10 months
5 weeks

The Office of the Registrar at Stratford

05/397

20 February 1905

S. H. James, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	20 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rose	Johanna Kavanagh
	💍 1905/5708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Inglewood
Length of Residence	10 months	5 weeks
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	05/397
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1905
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar

20 February 1905

Otto Schaare
Emily Gaylard

Otto Schaare
Emily Gaylard
💍 1905/5715

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
21

Pohokura
Stratford

5 years
3 years

The residence of Mr M. E. Gaylard, Portia Street, Stratford

05/403

20 February 1905

J. Glover, Primitive Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	20 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Otto Schaare	Emily Gaylard
	💍 1905/5715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Pohokura	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr M. E. Gaylard, Portia Street, Stratford
Folio	05/403
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1905
Officiating Minister	J. Glover, Primitive Methodist

27 February 1905

Ralph Wright
Janet Louisa Curtis

Ralph Wright
Janet Louisa Curtis
💍 1905/5713

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
24

Urenui
Stratford

3 1/2 years
6 years

The residence of O. M. Curtis, Broadway, Stratford

05/401

27 February 1905

Rev. G. E. Godbehear, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	27 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Wright	Janet Louisa Curtis
	💍 1905/5713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Urenui	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	The residence of O. M. Curtis, Broadway, Stratford
Folio	05/401
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Godbehear, Methodist

27 February 1905

Leonard Porter
Florence Alicia Bell

Leonard Porter
Florence Alicia Bell
💍 1905/5714

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Agent

24
22

Stratford
Stratford

1 year
2 years

The residence of Mr G. L. Bell, Broadway, Stratford

05/402

27 February 1905

Rev. J. W. Griffin, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	27 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Porter	Florence Alicia Bell
	💍 1905/5714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Agent
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr G. L. Bell, Broadway, Stratford
Folio	05/402
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin, 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).