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 821

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 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

15 February 1908

Arthur William Budge
Margaret Eliza Fothergill

Arthur William Budge
Margaret Eliza Tothergill
💍 1908/640

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

54
33

Stratford
Stratford

8 years
2 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

08/644

15 February 1908

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

No	7
Date of Notice	15 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Budge	Margaret Eliza Fothergill
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur William Budge	Margaret Eliza Tothergill
	💍 1908/640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	54	33
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	08/644
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. B. Watson, Church of England

17 February 1908

George Salter
Annie Hughes King

George Solter
Annie Hughes King
💍 1908/519

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

34
22

Hastings
Stratford

5 months
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

08/575

17 February 1908

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	17 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Salter	Annie Hughes King
BDM Match (96%)	George Solter	Annie Hughes King
	💍 1908/519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	08/575
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

17 February 1908

Thomas Huzziff
Martha Ellen Bray

Thomas Huzziff
Martha Ellen Bray
💍 1908/512

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

29
22

Huiroa
Stratford

13 years
2 years

Residence of Edwin Bray, Miranda Street, Stratford

08/508

17 February 1908

Rev. W. S. Bowie, Wesleyan

No	9
Date of Notice	17 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Huzziff	Martha Ellen Bray
	💍 1908/512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Huiroa	Stratford
Length of Residence	13 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Edwin Bray, Miranda Street, Stratford
Folio	08/508
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bowie, Wesleyan

17 February 1908

Frederick Smyth Pollock
Winifred Dolan

Frederick Smyth Pollock
Winifred Colan
💍 1908/513

Widower
Spinster

Carriage builder

38
35

Stratford
Stratford

13 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

08/509

17 February 1908

Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	17 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Smyth Pollock	Winifred Dolan
BDM Match (96%)	Frederick Smyth Pollock	Winifred Colan
	💍 1908/513
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carriage builder
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	08/509
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

25 February 1908

William Henry Harris
Annie McBride

William Hewey Harris
Annie McBride
💍 1908/517

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand

21
23

Huiroa
Stratford

12 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

08/573

25 February 1908

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	25 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Harris	Annie McBride
BDM Match (95%)	William Hewey Harris	Annie McBride
	💍 1908/517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Huiroa	Stratford
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	08/573
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

25 February 1908

Robert Stephen Hill
Elizabeth McBride

Robert Stephen Hill
Elizabeth McBride
💍 1908/518

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

21
21

Te Aroha
Stratford

9 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

08/574

25 February 1908

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	25 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stephen Hill	Elizabeth McBride
	💍 1908/518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Stratford
Length of Residence	9 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	08/574
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

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).