Intentions to Marry, 1912 Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840448, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 884

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 June 1912 Registrar C. J. 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 April 1912

Alfred Harrison
Margaret Mitchell Laing

Alfred Harrison
Margaret Mitchell Laing
💍 1912/6519

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom

27
26

Stratford
Stratford

4 years
15 months

Residence of Rev. B. Metson, Ohura road, Stratford

12/6236

2 April 1912

Rev. B. Metson, Primitive Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	2 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Harrison	Margaret Mitchell Laing
	💍 1912/6519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. B. Metson, Ohura road, Stratford
Folio	12/6236
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Metson, Primitive Methodist

6 April 1912

Albert Paulger
Gertrude Mary Camberworth

Albert Paulger
Gertrude Mary Cumberworth
💍 1912/4085

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
27

Whata
Mahoe

6 months
18 months

Residence of F. Camberworth, Mahoe

12/3949

6 April 1912

Rev. W. B. Scott, Wesleyan

No	8
Date of Notice	6 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Paulger	Gertrude Mary Camberworth
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Paulger	Gertrude Mary Cumberworth
	💍 1912/4085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	Whata	Mahoe
Length of Residence	6 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of F. Camberworth, Mahoe
Folio	12/3949
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Scott, Wesleyan

9 April 1912

Howard Albert Bayly
Josephine Pauline Chewandowski

Howard Albert Bayly
Josephine Pauline Leoandowski
💍 1912/2237

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
23

Sututawa
Midhirst

4 years
23 years

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

12/2000

9 April 1912

C. J. James, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	9 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Howard Albert Bayly	Josephine Pauline Chewandowski
BDM Match (95%)	Howard Albert Bayly	Josephine Pauline Leoandowski
	💍 1912/2237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Sututawa	Midhirst
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	12/2000
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1912
Officiating Minister	C. J. James, Registrar

15 April 1912

Thomas Arnold Bowen
Winifred Mary Connell

Thomas Arnold Bowen
Winnie Mary Connell
💍 1912/3317

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationist

33
27

Hawera
Stratford

4 years
4 months

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

12/3096

15 April 1912

Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	15 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arnold Bowen	Winifred Mary Connell
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Arnold Bowen	Winnie Mary Connell
	💍 1912/3317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationist
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	12/3096
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

30 April 1912

Thomas Hill
Margaret Mc-Kean

Thomas Hill
Margaret McLean
💍 1912/3318

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

26
19

Stratford
Stratford

8 weeks
6 months

Residence of A. Mc-Kean, Ariki Street, Stratford

12/3097

Archibald Mc-Kean, father

30 April 1912

Rev. Amos Reader, Wesleyan

No	11
Date of Notice	30 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hill	Margaret Mc-Kean
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Hill	Margaret McLean
	💍 1912/3318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	8 weeks	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of A. Mc-Kean, Ariki Street, Stratford
Folio	12/3097
Consent	Archibald Mc-Kean, father
Date of Certificate	30 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Amos Reader, Wesleyan

6 May 1912

Jacob Linklater
Eleanor Beatrice Karalus

Jacob Linklater
Eleanor Beatrice Karalus
💍 1912/3285

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
24

Midhirst
Midhirst

1 week
4 years

Residence of Jacob Karalus, Salisbury Road, Midhirst

12/3060

6 May 1912

Rev. James Richards, Wesleyan

No	12
Date of Notice	6 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jacob Linklater	Eleanor Beatrice Karalus
	💍 1912/3285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	1 week	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Jacob Karalus, Salisbury Road, Midhirst
Folio	12/3060
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Richards, 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).