Intentions to Marry, 1913 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840451, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1913 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1913a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1913b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1913c).

Page 933

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1913 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

1 July 1913

Stanley Bennett Hall
Zillah Saywell

Stanley Bennett Hall
Zillah Saywell
💍 1913/5430

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter maker

24
20

Midhirst
Midhirst

4 months
4 years

The Church, Wharehuia

13/5162

William Saywell, father

1 July 1913

Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

No	33
Date of Notice	1 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Bennett Hall	Zillah Saywell
	💍 1913/5430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter maker
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	4 months	4 years
Marriage Place	The Church, Wharehuia
Folio	13/5162
Consent	William Saywell, father
Date of Certificate	1 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

5 July 1913

George Gosling
Marion Catherine Abbott

George Gosling
Marion Catherine Abbott
💍 1913/5434

Bachelor
Spinster

Stevedore

29
28

Auckland
Stratford

6 years
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

13/5166

5 July 1913

Rev. Father J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	34
Date of Notice	5 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gosling	Marion Catherine Abbott
	💍 1913/5434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stevedore
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Stratford
Length of Residence	6 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	13/5166
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

8 July 1913

David Harry Brown
Mary Ann Maddock

David Harry Brown
Mary Ann Maddock
💍 1913/5433

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

25
21

Marton Junction
Waipuku

3 months
6 weeks

Residence of James Maddock, Waipuku

13/5165

8 July 1913

Rev. James Pattison, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	8 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Harry Brown	Mary Ann Maddock
	💍 1913/5433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Marton Junction	Waipuku
Length of Residence	3 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of James Maddock, Waipuku
Folio	13/5165
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Pattison, Presbyterian

11 July 1913

Frederick Reader
Stella Alexandra Hanson

Frederick Reader
Stella Alexandra Hansen
💍 1913/5439

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver

28
19

Stratford
Stratford

1 month
2 weeks

Residence of G. J. Roberts, Ariel Street, Stratford

13/5170

Anton Hendrick Hanson, father

11 July 1913

Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	11 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Reader	Stella Alexandra Hanson
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Reader	Stella Alexandra Hansen
	💍 1913/5439
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	1 month	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of G. J. Roberts, Ariel Street, Stratford
Folio	13/5170
Consent	Anton Hendrick Hanson, father
Date of Certificate	11 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

14 July 1913

David Hall Toms
Grace Ruth Bonner

David Hall Toms
Grace Ruth Bonner
💍 1913/5431

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

33
29

Patea
Stratford

3 months
29 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

13/5163

14 July 1913

Rev. James Pattison, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	14 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hall Toms	Grace Ruth Bonner
	💍 1913/5431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Patea	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 months	29 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	13/5163
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Pattison, Presbyterian

15 July 1913

James Collins Latham
Grace Watson Manson

James Collins Latham
Grace Watson Manson
💍 1913/6223

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

26
21

Midhirst
Stratford

14 years
2 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

13/5958

15 July 1913

Rev. W. A. Butter, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	15 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Collins Latham	Grace Watson Manson
	💍 1913/6223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Stratford
Length of Residence	14 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	13/5958
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1913
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).