Intentions to Marry, 1906 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840430, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1906 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1906a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1906b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1906c).

Page 728

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 June 1906 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

14 April 1906

Alfred Richard Gorringe
Rose Ellen Walsh

Alfred Richard Gorringe
Rose Ellen Walsh
💍 1906/712

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
24

Eltham
Loko

8 months
20 years

Primitive Methodist Church at Stratford

06/2025

14 April 1906

Rev. J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

No	17
Date of Notice	14 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Richard Gorringe	Rose Ellen Walsh
	💍 1906/712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Loko
Length of Residence	8 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church at Stratford
Folio	06/2025
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

17 April 1906

Isaac Marks Stephens
Coelyne Martha Schwartfeger

Isaac Marks Stephens
Evelyn Martha Schwartfyer
💍 1906/700

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
21

Hukanui
Stratford

4 years
1 1/2 years

Church of England, Stratford

06/2033

17 April 1906

Rev. G. A. B. Watson, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	17 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Marks Stephens	Coelyne Martha Schwartfeger
BDM Match (91%)	Isaac Marks Stephens	Evelyn Martha Schwartfyer
	💍 1906/700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Hukanui	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Stratford
Folio	06/2033
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. B. Watson, Church of England

20 April 1906

Percival Andrew Lundberg
Edith Jakes

Percival Andrew Lundberg
Edith Jakes
💍 1906/719

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Hand

23
21

Cardiff
Cardiff

15 years
5 years

Residence of Henry Lacey, Poto Road, Cardiff

06/2030

20 April 1906

Rev. J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

No	19
Date of Notice	20 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Andrew Lundberg	Edith Jakes
	💍 1906/719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Hand
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Cardiff	Cardiff
Length of Residence	15 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Henry Lacey, Poto Road, Cardiff
Folio	06/2030
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

30 April 1906

Robert Masters
Alice Gertrude Hopkins

Robert Masters
Alice Gertrude Hopkins
💍 1906/707

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

27
21

Stratford
Stratford

10 years
2 1/2 years

Wesleyan Church at Stratford

06/2040

30 April 1906

Rev. J. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

No	20
Date of Notice	30 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Masters	Alice Gertrude Hopkins
	💍 1906/707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	10 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church at Stratford
Folio	06/2040
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

8 May 1906

George Twidle
Susannah Crosby

George Twidle
Susannah Crosby
💍 1906/7570

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Midhurst
Midhurst

6 months
20 years

Residence of G. Wasley, Croydon Road, Waipuku

06/2041

Elizabeth Ann Wasley, mother

8 May 1906

Rev. J. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

No	21
Date of Notice	8 May 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Twidle	Susannah Crosby
	💍 1906/7570
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	Midhurst
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Wasley, Croydon Road, Waipuku
Folio	06/2041
Consent	Elizabeth Ann Wasley, mother
Date of Certificate	8 May 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

1 June 1906

Benjamin Henry Spargo
Violet Annie Hassall

Benjamin Henry Spargo
Violet Annie Hassall
💍 1906/720

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

24
17

Stratford
Stratford

1 year
17 years

Primitive Methodist Church at Stratford

06/2046

Henry Hassall, father

1 June 1906

Rev. J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	1 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Henry Spargo	Violet Annie Hassall
	💍 1906/720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	1 year	17 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church at Stratford
Folio	06/2046
Consent	Henry Hassall, father
Date of Certificate	1 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Lyon, 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).