Intentions to Marry, 1908 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840436, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1908 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1908a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1908b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1908c).

Page 829

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1908 Registrar S. H. 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

14 July 1908

William Drake
Amy Ethel Susan Robinson

William Drake
Amy Ethel Susan Robinson
💍 1908/6288

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
22

Tarata
Stratford

3 years
20 years

Residence of Robert Robinson, Opunake Road, Stratford

08/4837

14 July 1908

Rev. F. T. Read, Wesleyan

No	37
Date of Notice	14 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Drake	Amy Ethel Susan Robinson
	💍 1908/6288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Tarata	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Robinson, Opunake Road, Stratford
Folio	08/4837
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. T. Read, Wesleyan

16 July 1908

Walter Riddell
Eva Elizabeth Blake

Walter Riddell
Eva Elizabeth Blake
💍 1908/6294

Widower
Spinster

Salesman

34
23

Stratford
Stratford

10 years
20 years

The Manse, Portia Street, Stratford

08/4843

16 July 1908

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	38
Date of Notice	16 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Riddell	Eva Elizabeth Blake
	💍 1908/6294
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Portia Street, Stratford
Folio	08/4843
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

18 July 1908

Edward Alfred Chard
Amy Frances Mary Carter

Edward Alfred Chard
Amy Frances Mary Carter
💍 1908/6286

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

31
27

Stratford
Stratford

5 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

08/4835

18 July 1908

Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	39
Date of Notice	18 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Alfred Chard	Amy Frances Mary Carter
	💍 1908/6286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	08/4835
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

21 July 1908

Ernest James Dickinson
Margaret Sarah Carleton

Ernest James Dickinson
Margaret Sarah Carleton
💍 1908/6295

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

25
23

Waverley
Stratford

6 months
7 year

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

08/4844

21 July 1908

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	21 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest James Dickinson	Margaret Sarah Carleton
	💍 1908/6295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Stratford
Length of Residence	6 months	7 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	08/4844
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

23 July 1908

John Waldron Wright
Alice Mary Mantle

John Waldron Wright
Alice Mary Mantle
💍 1908/6297

Widower
Spinster

Sawyer

51
28

Auckland
Stratford

40 years
6 months

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

08/4845

23 July 1908

Rev. H. A. Favell, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	23 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Waldron Wright	Alice Mary Mantle
	💍 1908/6297
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	51	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Stratford
Length of Residence	40 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	08/4845
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Favell, Church of England

8 August 1908

William Henry Rowe
Frederika Louisa Wilhelmina Lehmann

William Henry Rowe
Frederika Louisa Wilhelmina Lehmann
💍 1908/6293

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
21

Stratford
Stratford

14 years
21 years

Wesleyan Church, Stratford

08/4842

8 August 1908

Rev. C. D. Patchett, Wesleyan

No	42
Date of Notice	8 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Rowe	Frederika Louisa Wilhelmina Lehmann
	💍 1908/6293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Stratford
Folio	08/4842
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. D. Patchett, 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).