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 733

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 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

3 July 1906

Ezra Everiss
Mary May Masters

Ezra Everiss
Mary May Masters
💍 1906/4467

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

25
20

Stratford
Stratford

4 years
12 years

Wesley Church Stratford

06/4105

Jonas Masters, Father

3 July 1906

Rev. J. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

No	32
Date of Notice	3 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ezra Everiss	Mary May Masters
	💍 1906/4467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church Stratford
Folio	06/4105
Consent	Jonas Masters, Father
Date of Certificate	3 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

21 July 1906

Alfred John Yandle
Sarah Ella West

Alfred John Yandle
Sarah Ella West
💍 1906/4466

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
19

Huiakama
Huiakama

4 years
10 years

Residence of C. H. West, Huiakama

06/4104

Charles Henry West, Father

21 July 1906

Rev. C. Roseveare Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	21 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Yandle	Sarah Ella West
	💍 1906/4466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Huiakama	Huiakama
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of C. H. West, Huiakama
Folio	06/4104
Consent	Charles Henry West, Father
Date of Certificate	21 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Roseveare Presbyterian

28 July 1906

Joseph Smith
Ethel May Corbett

Joseph Smith
Ethel May Corbett
💍 1906/4469

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager

29
24

Joko
Joko

15 months
12 months

Residence of G. Corbett, New Road, Joko

06/4107

28 July 1906

Rev. J. W. Griffin Wesleyan

No	34
Date of Notice	28 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Smith	Ethel May Corbett
	💍 1906/4469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Joko	Joko
Length of Residence	15 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Corbett, New Road, Joko
Folio	06/4107
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin Wesleyan

2 August 1906

James Henry Floyd
Margaret Jane Chovatt

James Henry Floyd
Margaret Jane Lovatt
💍 1906/4468

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

33
28

Stratford
Stratford

2 years
3 years

Residence of Mr C. Clark, Orlando Street, Stratford

06/4106

2 August 1906

Rev. J. W. Griffin Wesleyan

No	35
Date of Notice	2 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Floyd	Margaret Jane Chovatt
BDM Match (95%)	James Henry Floyd	Margaret Jane Lovatt
	💍 1906/4468
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr C. Clark, Orlando Street, Stratford
Folio	06/4106
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin Wesleyan

4 August 1906

Francis Henry Hooper
Eliza Annie Topp

Francis Henry Hooper
Eliza Annie Topp
💍 1906/4474

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Cardiff
Cardiff

7 years
8 years

The Mission Hall, Cardiff

06/4111

4 August 1906

Rev. J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	4 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Hooper	Eliza Annie Topp
	💍 1906/4474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Cardiff	Cardiff
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	The Mission Hall, Cardiff
Folio	06/4111
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

10 August 1906

Walter Blair
Abigail Mabel Watkin

Walter Blair
Abigail Mabel Watkin
💍 1906/4470

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
26

Huiroa
Huiroa

7 years
10 years

Residence of W. Watkin, Huiroa

06/4108

10 August 1906

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	10 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Blair	Abigail Mabel Watkin
	💍 1906/4470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Huiroa	Huiroa
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Watkin, Huiroa
Folio	06/4108
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).