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 735

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 December 1906 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

20 October 1906

James Dempsey
Annie Breen

James Dempsey
Annie Breen
💍 1906/6086

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
19

Toko
Stratford

4 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

06/5981

John Breen, father

20 October 1906

Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	44
Date of Notice	20 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dempsey	Annie Breen
	💍 1906/6086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Toko	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	06/5981
Consent	John Breen, father
Date of Certificate	20 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

2 November 1906

Percival William Stanton
Eleann Kirkby

Percyvel Willhim Stanton
Eleanor Kirkby
💍 1906/6091

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

24
20

Midhirst
Midhirst

2 years
9 years

Residence of Mr. M. A. Kirkby, Salisbury Road, Midhirst

06/5986

Mary Alice Kirkby, mother

2 November 1906

Rev. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

No	45
Date of Notice	2 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival William Stanton	Eleann Kirkby
BDM Match (85%)	Percyvel Willhim Stanton	Eleanor Kirkby
	💍 1906/6091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. M. A. Kirkby, Salisbury Road, Midhirst
Folio	06/5986
Consent	Mary Alice Kirkby, mother
Date of Certificate	2 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

3 November 1906

William Francis Hill
Amelia Scott

William Francis Hill
Amelia Scott
💍 1906/6090

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

24
25

Dromedary, Tasmania
Stratford

22 years
2 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

06/5985

3 November 1906

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

No	46
Date of Notice	3 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Hill	Amelia Scott
	💍 1906/6090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Dromedary, Tasmania	Stratford
Length of Residence	22 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	06/5985
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. B. Watson, Church of England

7 November 1906

Gilbert Rye
Sarah Euphemia Pepperell

Gilbert Rye
Sarah Euphemia Pepperell
💍 1906/6087

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
22

Toko
Toko

3 months
3 months

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

06/5982

7 November 1906

E. F. Hemingway, Deputy Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	7 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Rye	Sarah Euphemia Pepperell
	💍 1906/6087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Toko	Toko
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	06/5982
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1906
Officiating Minister	E. F. Hemingway, Deputy Registrar

12 November 1906

William Norman Frank
Johanna Frank

William Newman
Johanna Frank
💍 1906/6088

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
19

Strathmore
Strathmore

11 years
12 years

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

06/5983

Carl Wilhelm Frank, father

12 November 1906

S. A. James, Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	12 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Norman Frank	Johanna Frank
BDM Match (80%)	William Newman	Johanna Frank
	💍 1906/6088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Strathmore	Strathmore
Length of Residence	11 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	06/5983
Consent	Carl Wilhelm Frank, father
Date of Certificate	12 November 1906
Officiating Minister	S. A. James, Registrar

3 December 1906

Reginald Frank Harkness
Florence Amelia Lawrence

Reginald Frank Harkness
Florence Amelia Lawrence
💍 1906/6085

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

27
18

Midhirst
Midhirst

10 years
13 years

Residence of J. B. Lawrence, Midhirst

06/5980

John Bates Lawrence, father

3 December 1906

Rev. E. D. Satchell, Wesleyan

No	49
Date of Notice	3 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Frank Harkness	Florence Amelia Lawrence
	💍 1906/6085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	10 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. B. Lawrence, Midhirst
Folio	06/5980
Consent	John Bates Lawrence, father
Date of Certificate	3 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Satchell, Wesleyan

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).