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 885

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 June 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

20 May 1912

Martin Job Aldridge
Lelia May Emma Woodhouse Beavis

Martin Job Aldridge
Lelia May Emma Woodhouse Bevins
💍 1912/3320

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

27
21

Waimiha
Stratford

7 months
15 years

Residence of Walter Beavis, Ohura road, Stratford

12/3098

20 May 1912

Rev. Amos Reader, Wesleyan

No	13
Date of Notice	20 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Job Aldridge	Lelia May Emma Woodhouse Beavis
BDM Match (97%)	Martin Job Aldridge	Lelia May Emma Woodhouse Bevins
	💍 1912/3320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Waimiha	Stratford
Length of Residence	7 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Walter Beavis, Ohura road, Stratford
Folio	12/3098
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Amos Reader, Wesleyan

28 May 1912

James McCormick
Irene Gertrude Campbell

James McCormick
Irene Gertrude Campbell
💍 1912/6520

Bachelor
Spinster

Cordial manufacturer

41
24

Stratford
Stratford

15 years
2 years

Residence of Mr & Mrs Campbell, Rosalind Street, Stratford

12/6237

28 May 1912

Rev. B. Metson, Primitive Methodist

No	14
Date of Notice	28 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McCormick	Irene Gertrude Campbell
	💍 1912/6520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial manufacturer
Age	41	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr & Mrs Campbell, Rosalind Street, Stratford
Folio	12/6237
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Metson, Primitive Methodist

1 June 1912

Frederick Henry Taylor
Jessie Maude Robertson

Frederick Henry Taylor
Jessie Maude Robertson
💍 1912/2306

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
18

Midhurst
Midhurst

3 years
18 years

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

12/2002

Thomas Robertson, father

1 June 1912

S. P. James, Deputy Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	1 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Taylor	Jessie Maude Robertson
	💍 1912/2306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	Midhurst
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	12/2002
Consent	Thomas Robertson, father
Date of Certificate	1 June 1912
Officiating Minister	S. P. James, Deputy Registrar

4 June 1912

William George Marshall
Phoebe Ann Persson

William George Marshall
Phoebe Ann Persson
💍 1912/2295

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph linesman

29
24

Stratford
Stratford

3 months
4 days

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

12/2001

4 June 1914

S. P. James, Deputy Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	4 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Marshall	Phoebe Ann Persson
	💍 1912/2295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph linesman
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	12/2001
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1914
Officiating Minister	S. P. James, Deputy Registrar

8 June 1912

Frank Bird
Agnes Smith

Frank Bird
Agnes Smith
💍 1912/4433

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk of Court

32
24

Stratford
Stratford

3 years
1 year

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

12/4250

8 June 1912

Rev. W. A. Butter, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	8 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Bird	Agnes Smith
	💍 1912/4433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk of Court
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	12/4250
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 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).