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 830

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

12 August 1908

George Hargreaves
Ethel Clara Algie

George Hargreaves
Ethel Clara Algie
💍 1908/6290

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

27
16

Tututawa
Tututawa

3 years
2 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford

08/4839

Clara Alice Clois Hodgkinson, Mother

12 August 1908

Rev. D. Campbell, Primitive Methodist

No	43
Date of Notice	12 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hargreaves	Ethel Clara Algie
	💍 1908/6290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	27	16
Dwelling Place	Tututawa	Tututawa
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	08/4839
Consent	Clara Alice Clois Hodgkinson, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Campbell, Primitive Methodist

12 August 1908

Arnold Goodgame
Ethel Christison

Arnold Goodgame
Ethel Christieson
💍 1908/3915

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
16

Toko
Toko

2 months
2 months

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

08/4834

Marton Christison, Father

12 August 1908

Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	44
Date of Notice	12 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Goodgame	Ethel Christison
BDM Match (97%)	Arnold Goodgame	Ethel Christieson
	💍 1908/3915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Toko	Toko
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	08/4834
Consent	Marton Christison, Father
Date of Certificate	12 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

17 August 1908

William Darrell
Florence Mary Hancock

William Darrall
Florence Mary Hancock
💍 1908/6291

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
26

Bunnythorpe
Stratford

6 years
20 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford

08/4840

17 August 1908

Rev. D. Campbell, Primitive Methodist

No	45
Date of Notice	17 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Darrell	Florence Mary Hancock
BDM Match (97%)	William Darrall	Florence Mary Hancock
	💍 1908/6291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Bunnythorpe	Stratford
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	08/4840
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Campbell, Primitive Methodist

19 August 1908

Henry William Kerr
Margaret Ellingford

Henry William Kerr
Margaret Ellingford
💍 1908/6307

Bachelor
Widow

Baker

34
39

Stratford
Stratford

19 months
15 years

Residence of George McBain, Juliet Street, Stratford

08/4831

19 August 1908

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	46
Date of Notice	19 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Kerr	Margaret Ellingford
	💍 1908/6307
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Baker
Age	34	39
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	19 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George McBain, Juliet Street, Stratford
Folio	08/4831
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

22 August 1908

Joseph O'Shaughnessy
Minnie Carleton

Joseph OShaughnessy
Minnie Carleton
💍 1908/6278

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

42
43

Egmont Village
Stratford

1 year
9 years

Roman Catholic Church, New Plymouth

08/4802

22 August 1908

Rev. Father James McManus, Roman Catholic

No	47
Date of Notice	22 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph O'Shaughnessy	Minnie Carleton
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph OShaughnessy	Minnie Carleton
	💍 1908/6278
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	42	43
Dwelling Place	Egmont Village	Stratford
Length of Residence	1 year	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, New Plymouth
Folio	08/4802
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father James McManus, Roman Catholic

22 August 1908

William John Burgees
Susan Black

William John Burgess
Susan Black
💍 1908/6292

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

29
23

Stratford
Stratford

16 years
10 years

Church of England, Stratford

08/4841

22 August 1908

Rev. H. A. Favell, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	22 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Burgees	Susan Black
BDM Match (98%)	William John Burgess	Susan Black
	💍 1908/6292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Stratford
Folio	08/4841
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Favell, 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).