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 777

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1907 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

2 February 1907

Robert Annal Stanley Browne
Anne Anderson Miller

Robert Annal Stanley Browne
Anne Anderson Miller
💍 1907/391

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

27
28

Feilding
Stratford

5 months
3 weeks

Residence of J. A. Ross, Cardiff

07/452

2 February 1907

Rev. James Johnston, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	2 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Annal Stanley Browne	Anne Anderson Miller
	💍 1907/391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of J. A. Ross, Cardiff
Folio	07/452
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Johnston, Presbyterian

13 February 1907

James Millar Thomson
Sarah Boyd

James Millar Thomson
Sarah Boyd
💍 1907/1359

James Mathewson
Jean Boyd
💍 1908/4832

Bachelor
Spinster

Clergyman

35
21

Stratford
Lincoln

2 years
8 years

Residence of George Boyd, Christchurch, Lincoln

07/463

13 February 1907

Rev. John Elmslie, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	13 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Millar Thomson	Sarah Boyd
	💍 1907/1359
BDM Match (60%)	James Mathewson	Jean Boyd
	💍 1908/4832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clergyman
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Lincoln
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Boyd, Christchurch, Lincoln
Folio	07/463
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Elmslie, Presbyterian

18 February 1907

Frederick Albert Stevens
Rose Mabel Taylor

Frederick Albert Stevens
Rose Mabel Taylor
💍 1907/397

Frederick Albert Judkins
May Adelaide Taylor
💍 1907/6601

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman

25
21

Douglas
Kaponga

4 years
5 months

Residence of Rev. J. W. Griffin, East Road

07/458

18 February 1907

Rev. J. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

No	9
Date of Notice	18 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Albert Stevens	Rose Mabel Taylor
	💍 1907/397
BDM Match (61%)	Frederick Albert Judkins	May Adelaide Taylor
	💍 1907/6601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Douglas	Kaponga
Length of Residence	4 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. W. Griffin, East Road
Folio	07/458
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin, Wesleyan

20 February 1907

William John Knott
Miriam Catherine Reed

William John Knott
Miriam Catherine Reed
💍 1907/392

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
27

New Plymouth
New Plymouth

2 years
27 years

All Saints Church, Midhirst

07/453

20 February 1907

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

No	10
Date of Notice	20 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Knott	Miriam Catherine Reed
	💍 1907/392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	2 years	27 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Midhirst
Folio	07/453
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. B. Watson, Church of England

11 March 1907

John Thomas Buchanan
Harriett Margaret Shaw

John Thomas Buchanan
Harriett Margaret Shaw
💍 1907/394

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

24
22

Wellington
Stratford

9 years
9 months

Office of the Registrar, Stratford

07/455

11 March 1907

S. A. James, Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	11 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Buchanan	Harriett Margaret Shaw
	💍 1907/394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Stratford
Length of Residence	9 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Stratford
Folio	07/455
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1907
Officiating Minister	S. A. James, Registrar

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).