Intentions to Marry, 1907 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840433, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1907 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1907a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1907b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1907c).

Page 776

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar S. Hames

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 January 1907

Herbert George Cheesman
Selina Grace Combes

Herbert George Cheesman
Selina Grace Combes
💍 1907/393

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

39
28

Stratford
Stratford

15 years
18 months

The Office of the Registrar at Stratford

07/454

3 January 1907

S. Hames, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert George Cheesman	Selina Grace Combes
	💍 1907/393
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	15 years	18 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	07/454
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1907
Officiating Minister	S. Hames, Registrar

26 January 1907

Michael Kowalewski
Clara Agnes Schumacher

Michael Kowalawski
Clara Agnes Schumacker
💍 1907/410

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

23
23

Jariki
Midhirst

6 years
23 years

The Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

07/449

26 January 1907

P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	26 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Kowalewski	Clara Agnes Schumacher
BDM Match (95%)	Michael Kowalawski	Clara Agnes Schumacker
	💍 1907/410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Jariki	Midhirst
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	07/449
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1907
Officiating Minister	P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

26 January 1907

Charles Harold Bennett
Ivy Clayton

Charles Harold Bennett
Ivy Clayton
💍 1907/390

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
27

Loko
Stratford

3 years
8 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

07/451

26 January 1907

G. A. B. Watson, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	26 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Harold Bennett	Ivy Clayton
	💍 1907/390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Loko	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	07/451
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1907
Officiating Minister	G. A. B. Watson, Church of England

30 January 1907

Charles Alger
Margaret Ellen Hunter

Charles Alger
Margaret Ellen Hunter
💍 1907/389

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

35
25

Stratford
Stratford

5 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

07/450

30 January 1907

P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	30 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alger	Margaret Ellen Hunter
	💍 1907/389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	07/450
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1907
Officiating Minister	P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

30 January 1907

Frank Shields Plumtree
May Rovena Sanders

Frank Shields Plumtree
Mary Rosina Saunders
💍 1907/1924

Widower
Spinster

Draper

31
24

Stratford
Stratford

12 years
15 years

Residence of Mr. H. S. Sanders, Warwick Road, Stratford

07/2047

30 January 1907

J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	30 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Shields Plumtree	May Rovena Sanders
BDM Match (90%)	Frank Shields Plumtree	Mary Rosina Saunders
	💍 1907/1924
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	12 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. S. Sanders, Warwick Road, Stratford
Folio	07/2047
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1907
Officiating Minister	J. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

30 January 1907

William Henry Hewett
Dora Annie Bond

William Henry Hewitt
Dorah Annie Bond
💍 1907/5743

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Factory Assistant

22
18

Stratford
Stratford

5 months
6 weeks

Residence of Mr. W. A. Hewett, Miranda Street, Stratford

07/448

Henry Hewett, father

30 January 1907

Rev. J. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

No	6
Date of Notice	30 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hewett	Dora Annie Bond
BDM Match (94%)	William Henry Hewitt	Dorah Annie Bond
	💍 1907/5743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Factory Assistant
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. A. Hewett, Miranda Street, Stratford
Folio	07/448
Consent	Henry Hewett, father
Date of Certificate	30 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin, 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 1908. 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).