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 845

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 December 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

2 October 1909

George William Perrett
Catherine Elizabeth Kerr

George William Perrett
Catherine Elizabeth Kerr
💍 1909/8094

Divorced
Spinster

Farmer

29
21

Midhirst
Stratford

29 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

09/6378

2 October 1909

S. H. James Registrar.

No	51
Date of Notice	2 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Perrett	Catherine Elizabeth Kerr
	💍 1909/8094
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Stratford
Length of Residence	29 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	09/6378
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1909
Officiating Minister	S. H. James Registrar.

2 October 1909

James Alexander Oliver
Ada Beatrice Taylor

James Alexander Oliver
Ada Beatrice Taylor
💍 1909/6036

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
25

Ngaere
Okaiawa

2 months
7 years

Residence of R. H. Taylor, Okaiawa

09/7898

2 October 1909

Rev. J. R. Shore, Presbyterian.

No	52
Date of Notice	2 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Oliver	Ada Beatrice Taylor
	💍 1909/6036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Ngaere	Okaiawa
Length of Residence	2 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of R. H. Taylor, Okaiawa
Folio	09/7898
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Shore, Presbyterian.

11 October 1909

Arthur Henry Nelson
Emily May Green

Arthur Henry Nelson
Emily May Green
💍 1909/8109

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

26
21

Strathmore
Toko

6 months
21 years

Residence of W. J. Green, Ahuroa road, Toko

09/6393

11 October 1909

Rev. H. A. Favell, Church of England.

No	53
Date of Notice	11 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Nelson	Emily May Green
	💍 1909/8109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Strathmore	Toko
Length of Residence	6 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. J. Green, Ahuroa road, Toko
Folio	09/6393
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Favell, Church of England.

11 October 1909

Joseph Henry Thompson
Millicent Olive Hopkins

Joseph Henry Thompson
Millicent Olive Hopkins
💍 1909/8108

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

29
23

Stratford
Stratford

14 years
5 years

Wesleyan Church, Stratford

09/6392

11 October 1909

Rev. C. C. Harrison, Wesleyan.

No	54
Date of Notice	11 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Thompson	Millicent Olive Hopkins
	💍 1909/8108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	14 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Stratford
Folio	09/6392
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harrison, Wesleyan.

21 October 1909

George Smithers
Rose Peartree

George Smithers
Rose Peartree
💍 1909/8095

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
23

Midhirst
Midhirst

12 months
1 week

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

09/6379

21 October 1909

S. H. James Registrar.

No	55
Date of Notice	21 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Smithers	Rose Peartree
	💍 1909/8095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	12 months	1 week
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	09/6379
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1909
Officiating Minister	S. H. James Registrar.

20 October 1909

John William Carter
Florence Annie Walker

John William Carter
Florence Annie Walker
💍 1909/8096

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

29
22

Rawhitiroa
Midhirst

3 months
20 years

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

09/6380

20 October 1909

S. H. James Registrar.

No	56
Date of Notice	20 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Carter	Florence Annie Walker
	💍 1909/8096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Rawhitiroa	Midhirst
Length of Residence	3 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	09/6380
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1909
Officiating Minister	S. H. James Registrar.

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).