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 148

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar S. A. 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

2 October 1905

Edwin Wright
Margaret Willis

Edwin Wright
Margaret Willis
💍 1905/3164

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
27

Rowan
Rowan

12 years
11 years

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

05/5662

2 October 1905

S. A. James, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	2 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Wright	Margaret Willis
	💍 1905/3164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Rowan	Rowan
Length of Residence	12 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	05/5662
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1905
Officiating Minister	S. A. James, Registrar

3 October 1905

Robert Morrison
Catherine Margaret Campbell

Robert Morrison
Catherine Margaret Campbell
💍 1905/3187

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
22

Toko
Tariki

4 1/2 years
3 days

The Tariki Hotel at Inglewood

05/5636

3 October 1905

Rev. J. M. Thomson, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	3 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Morrison	Catherine Margaret Campbell
	💍 1905/3187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Toko	Tariki
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	The Tariki Hotel at Inglewood
Folio	05/5636
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Thomson, Presbyterian

4 October 1905

Henry George Lovel
Mary Jane Allan

Henry George Lovel
Mary Jane Allan
💍 1905/3165

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
26

Mahoe
Mahoe

1 year
8 years

The Manse, Stratford

05/5663

4 October 1905

Rev. J. M. Thomson, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	4 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Lovel	Mary Jane Allan
	💍 1905/3165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Mahoe	Mahoe
Length of Residence	1 year	8 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Stratford
Folio	05/5663
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Thomson, Presbyterian

16 October 1905

Ernest William Hopkins
Susan Wright

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand

26
29

Midhirst
Midhirst

19 months
25 years

Residence of Edward Wright, Radnor Road

05/5666

16 October 1905

Rev. James Thomas, Wesleyan

No	41
Date of Notice	16 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Hopkins	Susan Wright
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	19 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Edward Wright, Radnor Road
Folio	05/5666
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Thomas, Wesleyan

30 October 1905

Joseph Woolford
Emily Johnson

Joseph Woolford
Emily Johnson
💍 1905/3162

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
26

Brunswick, Wanganui
Mahoe

29 years
6 months

Residence of Mr. J. Johnson, Palmer Road, Mahoe

05/5660

30 October 1905

George Dickens, Salvation Army

No	42
Date of Notice	30 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Woolford	Emily Johnson
	💍 1905/3162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Brunswick, Wanganui	Mahoe
Length of Residence	29 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Johnson, Palmer Road, Mahoe
Folio	05/5660
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1905
Officiating Minister	George Dickens, Salvation Army

4 November 1905

George Thomson
Frances Clark

George Thomson
Frances Clark
💍 1905/4438

Bachelor
Spinster

Inspector, Dep. of Agriculture

33
28

Stratford
Mataura

5 months
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Mataura

05/7000

4 November 1905

Rev. George Macdonald, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	4 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomson	Frances Clark
	💍 1905/4438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Inspector, Dep. of Agriculture
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Mataura
Length of Residence	5 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mataura
Folio	05/7000
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Macdonald, Presbyterian

14 November 1905

Gilbert Percy Thomson
Isabel Mary Kirkwood

Gilbert Percy Thomson
Jsabel Mary Kirkwood
💍 1905/3169

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

27
25

Invercargill
Stratford

1 year
6 years

Roman Catholic Church at Stratford

05/5667

14 November 1905

Rev. Father P. Preacy, Roman Catholic

No	44
Date of Notice	14 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Percy Thomson	Isabel Mary Kirkwood
BDM Match (98%)	Gilbert Percy Thomson	Jsabel Mary Kirkwood
	💍 1905/3169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Stratford
Length of Residence	1 year	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Stratford
Folio	05/5667
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. Preacy, 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).