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 841

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 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

3 July 1909

Edward Stanley Hallam Tichbon
Harriet Ann Jenkin

Edward Stanley Hallam Tichbon
Harriet Ann Jenkin
💍 1909/3017

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

27
26

Stratford
Stratford

5 years
7 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

09/4313

3 July 1909

Rev. H. A. Fawell, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	3 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Stanley Hallam Tichbon	Harriet Ann Jenkin
	💍 1909/3017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	09/4313
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Fawell, Church of England

5 July 1909

William Henry Mills
Annie Eliza Witt

William Henry Mills
Annie Eliza Witt
💍 1909/3021

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
20

Studholme, Canterbury
Midhirst

15 years
18 months

Wesleyan Church, Stratford

09/4317

Robert Henry Witt, father

5 July 1909

Rev. C. C. Harrison, Wesleyan

No	31
Date of Notice	5 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Mills	Annie Eliza Witt
	💍 1909/3021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Studholme, Canterbury	Midhirst
Length of Residence	15 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Stratford
Folio	09/4317
Consent	Robert Henry Witt, father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harrison, Wesleyan

9 July 1909

Murray Herbert White
Evelyn Florence Wiltshire

Murray Herbert White
Evelyn Florence Wiltshire
💍 1909/3027

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
20

Patea
Feilding

5 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

09/4322

Catherine Sarah Olsen, mother

9 July 1909

S. H. James, Registrar

No	32
Date of Notice	9 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murray Herbert White	Evelyn Florence Wiltshire
	💍 1909/3027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Patea	Feilding
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	09/4322
Consent	Catherine Sarah Olsen, mother
Date of Certificate	9 July 1909
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar

13 July 1909

William Green
Mabel Gordon

William Green
Mabel Gordon
💍 1909/7734

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
22

Waitara
Stratford

5 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

09/4329

13 July 1909

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	13 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Green	Mabel Gordon
	💍 1909/7734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	09/4329
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

14 July 1909

Ernest Phillips
Elizabeth Agnes Jones

Ernest Phillips
Elizabeth Agnes Jones
💍 1909/3040

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
21

Manaia
Midhirst

9 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

09/4328

14 July 1909

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	14 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Phillips	Elizabeth Agnes Jones
	💍 1909/3040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Midhirst
Length of Residence	9 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	09/4328
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

17 July 1909

George Shand Ferguson
Alice Jane Demchy

George Shand Ferguson
Alice Jane Demchy
💍 1909/3022

Divorced
Spinster

Farmer

37
28

Midhirst
Midhirst

8 years
15 years

Wesleyan Church, Stratford

09/4318

17 July 1909

Rev. C. C. Harrison, Wesleyan

No	35
Date of Notice	17 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Shand Ferguson	Alice Jane Demchy
	💍 1909/3022
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	8 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Stratford
Folio	09/4318
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harrison, 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).