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 729

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 June 1906 Registrar J. 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

4 June 1906

Arthur Henry Muller
Olive May Plews

Arthur Henry Müller
Olive May Plews
💍 1906/701

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

24
20

Normanby
Midhirst

3 years
15 years

Residence of Mr. A. E. Plews, Salisbury Road, Midhirst

06/2034

A. E. Plews, father

4 June 1906

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

No	23
Date of Notice	4 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Muller	Olive May Plews
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Henry Müller	Olive May Plews
	💍 1906/701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Normanby	Midhirst
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. E. Plews, Salisbury Road, Midhirst
Folio	06/2034
Consent	A. E. Plews, father
Date of Certificate	4 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. B. Watson, Church of England

5 June 1906

William Redshaw
Jane Wickham

William Redshaw
Jane Wickham
💍 1906/698

William McBeth
Pearl Wickham
💍 1906/699

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker

30
29

Dannevirke
Ngaire

1 year
4 years

Mission Hall, Ngaire

06/2031

5 June 1906

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	5 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Redshaw	Jane Wickham
	💍 1906/698
BDM Match (61%)	William McBeth	Pearl Wickham
	💍 1906/699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Ngaire
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	Mission Hall, Ngaire
Folio	06/2031
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

7 June 1906

William McBeth
Pearl Wickham

William McBeth
Pearl Wickham
💍 1906/699

William Redshaw
Jane Wickham
💍 1906/698

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

28
21

Kaponga
Ngaire

1 month
4 years

Mission Hall, Ngaire

06/2032

7 June 1906

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	7 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McBeth	Pearl Wickham
	💍 1906/699
BDM Match (61%)	William Redshaw	Jane Wickham
	💍 1906/698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Kaponga	Ngaire
Length of Residence	1 month	4 years
Marriage Place	Mission Hall, Ngaire
Folio	06/2032
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

11 June 1906

Michael John Petut
Catherine Leydon

Michael John Petit
Catherine Leyden
💍 1906/710

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

36
22

Dannevirke
Toko

18 months
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

06/2045

11 June 1906

Rev. P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	11 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael John Petut	Catherine Leydon
BDM Match (94%)	Michael John Petit	Catherine Leyden
	💍 1906/710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Toko
Length of Residence	18 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	06/2045
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

13 June 1906

Arthur George Parker
Constance Annie Blake

Arthur George Packer
Constance Annie Blake
💍 1906/731

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer

29
25

Toko
Toko

3 years
1 year

Residence of Mrs. Emily Blake at Midhirst

06/2047

13 June 1906

Rev. J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	13 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Parker	Constance Annie Blake
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur George Packer	Constance Annie Blake
	💍 1906/731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Toko	Toko
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Emily Blake at Midhirst
Folio	06/2047
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

16 June 1906

James Richards
Maud Ann Hancock

James Richards
Maud Ann Hancock
💍 1906/738

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Cardiff
Stratford

20 years
20 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford

06/2048

16 June 1906

Rev. J. A. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

No	28
Date of Notice	16 June 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Richards	Maud Ann Hancock
	💍 1906/738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Cardiff	Stratford
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	06/2048
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. 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).