Intentions to Marry, 1911 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840445, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 867

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 December 1911 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

17 November 1911

David Steven
Ethel Mildred Hills

David Steven
Ethel Mildred Hills
💍 1911/8146

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical practitioner

27
28

Stratford
Dunedin

9 months
28 years

Residence of H. M. Hills, Leith Street, Dunedin

11/7981

17 November 1911

Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian

No	53
Date of Notice	17 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Steven	Ethel Mildred Hills
	💍 1911/8146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical practitioner
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 months	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. M. Hills, Leith Street, Dunedin
Folio	11/7981
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Steven, Presbyterian

27 November 1911

Frank Gottlieb Schwartfeger
Emma Eliza Loveday

Frank Gottlieb Schwartfeger
Emma Eliza Loveday
💍 1911/6613

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

30
42

Stratford
Stratford

18 months
12 years

The Office of the Registrar at Stratford

11/6583

27 November 1911

S. H. James, Registrar

No	54
Date of Notice	27 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Gottlieb Schwartfeger	Emma Eliza Loveday
	💍 1911/6613
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	42
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	18 months	12 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	11/6583
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1911
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar

7 December 1911

Jonas Masters
Ellen Wycherly Longden

Jonas Masters
Ellen Wycherley Longden
💍 1911/7812

Widower
Widow

Storekeeper

55
49

Stratford
Stratford

17 years
8 months

Residence of Jonas Masters, Broadway North, Stratford

11/7767

7 December 1911

Rev. C. C. Harrison, Wesleyan

No	55
Date of Notice	7 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonas Masters	Ellen Wycherly Longden
BDM Match (98%)	Jonas Masters	Ellen Wycherley Longden
	💍 1911/7812
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	55	49
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	17 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Jonas Masters, Broadway North, Stratford
Folio	11/7767
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harrison, Wesleyan

11 December 1911

Robert Norman Melville
Margaret McGregor

Robert Norman Melville
Margaret McGregor
💍 1911/7862

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

25
22

Stratford
Stratford

7 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church at Stratford

11/7870

11 December 1911

Rev. F. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	11 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Norman Melville	Margaret McGregor
	💍 1911/7862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Stratford
Folio	11/7870
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

20 December 1911

Walter Roderick Bennett
Mary Ann Lea Wakelin

Walter Roderick Bennett
Mary Ann Sea Wakelin
💍 1911/7873

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

18
25

Toko
Toko

3 years
5 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

11/7880

Henry John Bennett, father

20 December 1911

Rev. W. A. Butter, Church of England

No	57
Date of Notice	20 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Roderick Bennett	Mary Ann Lea Wakelin
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Roderick Bennett	Mary Ann Sea Wakelin
	💍 1911/7873
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	18	25
Dwelling Place	Toko	Toko
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	11/7880
Consent	Henry John Bennett, father
Date of Certificate	20 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Butter, Church of England

23 December 1911

Edmund Ansell Drake
Maude McKeown

Edmund Ansell Drake
Maude McKeown
💍 1912/2284

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

26
27

Stratford
Stratford

6 years
9 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford

12/1673

23 December 1911

Rev. B. Metson, Primitive Methodist

No	58
Date of Notice	23 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Ansell Drake	Maude McKeown
	💍 1912/2284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	12/1673
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Metson, 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).