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 789

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 December 1907 Registrar S. 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

12 December 1907

James Allison Hume
Violet Laurel Blanche Insion

James Allison Hume
Violet Laurel Blanche Inston
💍 1907/7102

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

23
21

Douglas
Midhirst

5 months
4 years

The Church of England, Midhirst

07/6581

12 December 1907

Rev. b. a. B. H. Church of England

No	55
Date of Notice	12 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Allison Hume	Violet Laurel Blanche Insion
BDM Match (98%)	James Allison Hume	Violet Laurel Blanche Inston
	💍 1907/7102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Douglas	Midhirst
Length of Residence	5 months	4 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England, Midhirst
Folio	07/6581
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. b. a. B. H. Church of England

17 December 1907

William McKenzie Runciman
Blanche Stuart Parkinson

William McKenzie Runciman
Blanche Stuart Parkinson
💍 1907/7806

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

27
27

Matapuna
Midhirst

6 months
5 years

Residence of J. R. Parkinson, Midhirst

07/682

17 December 1907

Rev. C. W. Pat.

No	56
Date of Notice	17 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McKenzie Runciman	Blanche Stuart Parkinson
	💍 1907/7806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Matapuna	Midhirst
Length of Residence	6 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. R. Parkinson, Midhirst
Folio	07/682
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Pat.

20 December 1907

William Mark Rowe
Sarah Ann Ireland

William Mark Rowe
Sarah Ann Ireland
💍 1907/7101

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

24
22

Stratford
Stratford

19 years
22 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

07/6580

20 December 1907

Rev. b. a. B. H. Church of England

No	57
Date of Notice	20 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mark Rowe	Sarah Ann Ireland
	💍 1907/7101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	19 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	07/6580
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. b. a. B. H. Church of England

20 December 1907

Andrew Lilley
Nelly Ethel Huggett

Andrew Lilley
Nelly Ethel Huggett
💍 1907/7091

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter

31
25

New Plymouth
Stratford

5 years
25 years

Residence of H. W. Huggett, Flint Road, Stratford

07/6576

20 December 1907

Rev. D. Campbell, Primitive Methodist

No	58
Date of Notice	20 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Lilley	Nelly Ethel Huggett
	💍 1907/7091
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. W. Huggett, Flint Road, Stratford
Folio	07/6576
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Campbell, Primitive Methodist

28 December 1907

Henry Richard Morris
Ruth Hyford

Henry Richard Morris
Ruth Lyford
💍 1907/7098

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
20

Stratford
Stratford

7 years
16 years

Office of the Registrar, Stratford

07/6577

Thomas Hyford, father

28 December 1907

S. J. James, Registrar

No	59
Date of Notice	28 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Richard Morris	Ruth Hyford
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Richard Morris	Ruth Lyford
	💍 1907/7098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	7 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Stratford
Folio	07/6577
Consent	Thomas Hyford, father
Date of Certificate	28 December 1907
Officiating Minister	S. J. James, Registrar

28 December 1907

Charles John Wickham
Ellen Henrietta Junge

Charles John Wickham
Ellen Henrietta Junge
💍 1908/638

Widower
Widow

Borough Inspector

45
24

Stratford
Stratford

7 years
8 months

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

08/642

28 December 1907

Rev. b. a. B. H. Church of England

No	60
Date of Notice	28 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Wickham	Ellen Henrietta Junge
	💍 1908/638
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Borough Inspector
Age	45	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	7 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	08/642
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. b. a. B. H. Church of England

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).