Intentions to Marry, 1909 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840439, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 835

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1909 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

4 January 1909

Maurice Roche
Ettie Robertson

Maurice Roche
Ettie Robertson
💍 1909/3030

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

32
21

Stratford
Hunterville

2 months
5 years

Office of the Registrar

09/825

4 January 1909

S. H. James, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Roche	Ettie Robertson
	💍 1909/3030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Hunterville
Length of Residence	2 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	09/825
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1909
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar

19 January 1909

Alexander Haughton Wilson
Constance Annie Jonas

Alexander Laughton Wilson
Constance Annie Jonas
💍 1909/1197

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

32
28

Waitara
Waitara

8 months
28 years

Presbyterian Church, Toko

09/900

19 January 1909

Rev. W. S. Bowie, Wesleyan

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Haughton Wilson	Constance Annie Jonas
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Laughton Wilson	Constance Annie Jonas
	💍 1909/1197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	8 months	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Toko
Folio	09/900
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bowie, Wesleyan

23 January 1909

Henry Egarr
Harriet Eleanor Askew

Henry Egarr
Harriet Eleanor Askew
💍 1909/1070

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
21

Midhirst
Midhirst

2 years
21 years

Residence of Aaron Askew, Denbigh Road, Midhirst

09/937

23 January 1909

Rev. E. D. Patchett, Wesleyan

No	3
Date of Notice	23 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Egarr	Harriet Eleanor Askew
	💍 1909/1070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Aaron Askew, Denbigh Road, Midhirst
Folio	09/937
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett, Wesleyan

27 January 1909

Albert Harry Huggett
Laura Beatrice Plowright

Albert Harry Huggett
Laura Beatrice Plowright
💍 1909/1066

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
20

Stratford
Stratford

27 years
2 years

The Manse, Stratford

09/956

Edward Manning Plowright, father

27 January 1909

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	27 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Harry Huggett	Laura Beatrice Plowright
	💍 1909/1066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	27 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Stratford
Folio	09/956
Consent	Edward Manning Plowright, father
Date of Certificate	27 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

30 January 1909

James Adam Thompson
Illma Mayne Cole

James Adam Thompson
Hlwa Moyne Cole
💍 1909/1067

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

26
22

Stratford
Stratford

24 years
13 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

09/957

30 January 1909

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	30 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Adam Thompson	Illma Mayne Cole
BDM Match (88%)	James Adam Thompson	Hlwa Moyne Cole
	💍 1909/1067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	24 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	09/957
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

9 February 1909

Edwin James Guthrie
Gertrude Mary Sanders

Edwin James Guthrie
Gertrude Mary Sanders
💍 1909/1207

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

26
24

Stratford
Stratford

10 months
24 years

Residence of H. S. Sanders, Warwick Road, Stratford

09/909

9 February 1909

Rev. Charles A. Sims, Primitive Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	9 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin James Guthrie	Gertrude Mary Sanders
	💍 1909/1207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	10 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. S. Sanders, Warwick Road, Stratford
Folio	09/909
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles A. Sims, Primitive Methodist

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).