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 894

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 December 1912 Registrar S. P. 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

8 November 1912

Henry Taylor
Frances Maud Goldfinch

Henry Taylor
Frances Maud Goldfinch
💍 1912/8581

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

22
17

Eltham
Waipawa

4 years
2 months

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

12/739

William Goldfinch, father

8 November 1912

S. P. James, Deputy Registrar

No	50
Date of Notice	8 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Taylor	Frances Maud Goldfinch
	💍 1912/8581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Waipawa
Length of Residence	4 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	12/739
Consent	William Goldfinch, father
Date of Certificate	8 November 1912
Officiating Minister	S. P. James, Deputy Registrar

9 November 1912

Joseph Craig
Florence Bessetta Judd

Joseph Craig
Florence Bessetta Judd
💍 1912/8492

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

20
19

Hawera
Stratford

7 years
3 months

Residence of John Judd, Portia Street, Stratford

12/762

John Judd, father

9 November 1912

Rev. A. Reader, Wesleyan

No	51
Date of Notice	9 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Craig	Florence Bessetta Judd
	💍 1912/8492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Stratford
Length of Residence	7 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of John Judd, Portia Street, Stratford
Folio	12/762
Consent	John Judd, father
Date of Certificate	9 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reader, Wesleyan

18 November 1912

Frank Reeves Bell
Sarah Elizabeth Burgham

Frank Reeves Bell
Sarah Elizabeth Burgham
💍 1912/60

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

38
28

Shannon
Toko

6 months
4 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

12/8773

18 November 1912

Rev. W. A. Butter, Church of England

No	52
Date of Notice	18 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Reeves Bell	Sarah Elizabeth Burgham
	💍 1912/60
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Toko
Length of Residence	6 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	12/8773
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Butter, Church of England

18 November 1912

Charles Joseph Shanahan
Juanita Elizabeth Tocker

Charles Joseph Shanahan
Juanita Elizabeth Tocker
💍 1912/8494

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
25

Hawera
Stratford

5 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

12/7630

18 November 1912

Rev. J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	53
Date of Notice	18 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Joseph Shanahan	Juanita Elizabeth Tocker
	💍 1912/8494
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	12/7630
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

16 December 1912

Albert Thornley
Bertha Minnie Olsen

Albert Thornley
Bertha Minnie Olsen
💍 1912/8493

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

29
22

Kepperton
Stratford

3 years
9 months

Wesleyan Church, Stratford

12/7629

16 December 1912

Rev. A. Reader, Wesleyan

No	54
Date of Notice	16 December 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Thornley	Bertha Minnie Olsen
	💍 1912/8493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Kepperton	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Stratford
Folio	12/7629
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reader, Wesleyan

21 December 1912

Arthur Fairfax Ensor
Bertha Gredig

Arthur Fairfax Ensor
Bertha Gredig
💍 1912/5234

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

25
27

Fiji
Stratford

20 years
25 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

12/8774

21 December 1912

Rev. W. A. Butter, Church of England

No	55
Date of Notice	21 December 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Fairfax Ensor	Bertha Gredig
	💍 1912/5234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Fiji	Stratford
Length of Residence	20 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	12/8774
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Butter, Church of England

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).