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 836

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar S. S. 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

18 February 1909

Bernard James Armstrong
Beatrice Syrena Beasley

Bernard James Armstrong
Beatrice Syrena Besley
💍 1909/1068

Bachelor
Spinster

Postmaster

29
28

Rangitana
Stratford

3 months
5 months

Residence of Mr & Mrs Beasley, Orlando Street, Stratford.

09/958

18 February 1909

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	18 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard James Armstrong	Beatrice Syrena Beasley
BDM Match (98%)	Bernard James Armstrong	Beatrice Syrena Besley
	💍 1909/1068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Rangitana	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr & Mrs Beasley, Orlando Street, Stratford.
Folio	09/958
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

5 March 1909

Edgar Hine
Jean Bain

Edgar Hine
Jean Bain
💍 1909/1116

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

39
25

Joko
Joko

16 years
12 years

The Manse, Stratford.

09/959

5 March 1909

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	5 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Hine	Jean Bain
	💍 1909/1116
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	25
Dwelling Place	Joko	Joko
Length of Residence	16 years	12 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Stratford.
Folio	09/959
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

6 March 1909

Leonard Eugene Hann
Agnes Martha Lamason

Leonard Eugene Hann
Agnes Martha Lamason
💍 1909/988

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
30

Stratford
Stratford

28 years
6 years

Residence of J. Lamason, Opunake Road, Stratford.

09/911

6 March 1909

Rev. W. S. Bowie, Wesleyan

No	9
Date of Notice	6 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Eugene Hann	Agnes Martha Lamason
	💍 1909/988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	28 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Lamason, Opunake Road, Stratford.
Folio	09/911
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bowie, Wesleyan

13 March 1909

William Hobbs
Evelyn Ann Lyford

William Hobbs
Evelyn Ann Lyford
💍 1909/994

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

58
24

Stratford
Stratford

9 years
15 years

Residence of G. Seabright, Orlando Street, Stratford.

09/912

13 March 1909

Rev. W. S. Bowie, Wesleyan

No	10
Date of Notice	13 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hobbs	Evelyn Ann Lyford
	💍 1909/994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	58	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	9 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Seabright, Orlando Street, Stratford.
Folio	09/912
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bowie, Wesleyan

15 March 1909

Edgar Turner
Mildred Adelaide Plowright

Edgar Turner
Mildred Adelaide Plowright
💍 1909/3031

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher

21
17

Stratford
Stratford

4 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar at Stratford.

09/4326

Edward Manning Plowright, father.

15 March 1909

S. S. James, Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	15 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Turner	Mildred Adelaide Plowright
	💍 1909/3031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford.
Folio	09/4326
Consent	Edward Manning Plowright, father.
Date of Certificate	15 March 1909
Officiating Minister	S. S. James, Registrar

29 March 1909

Alfred Morton
Elizabeth Emma Gemmell

Alfred Morton
Elizabeth Emma Gemmell
💍 1909/1127

Bachelor
Widow

Painter

30
27

Hawera
Hawera

2 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church at Stratford.

09/960

29 March 1909

Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	29 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Morton	Elizabeth Emma Gemmell
	💍 1909/1127
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Painter
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Stratford.
Folio	09/960
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Millar Thomson, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).