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 935

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar S. A. 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

9 August 1913

Andrew Murray Scott
Irenia Margarite Ferguson

Andrew Murray Scott
Irenia Margarite Ferguson
💍 1913/5437

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Ngaere
Ngaere

7 years
22 years

Residence of A. Ferguson, Wingrove road, Ngaere

13/5769

9 August 1913

Rev. James Pathson, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	9 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Murray Scott	Irenia Margarite Ferguson
	💍 1913/5437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Ngaere	Ngaere
Length of Residence	7 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of A. Ferguson, Wingrove road, Ngaere
Folio	13/5769
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Pathson, Presbyterian

21 August 1913

Campbell Jackson
Reanna Russell Word

Campbell Jackson
Leanna Russell Wood
💍 1913/5440

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Agent

39
21

Stratford
Stratford

19 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

13/5771

21 August 1913

Rev. James Pathson, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	21 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Campbell Jackson	Reanna Russell Word
BDM Match (95%)	Campbell Jackson	Leanna Russell Wood
	💍 1913/5440
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Agent
Age	39	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	19 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	13/5771
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Pathson, Presbyterian

1 September 1913

Lewis Henry Meal
Alice Montrose Wade

Lewis Henry Neal
Alice Montrose Wade
💍 1913/5441

Bachelor
Spinster

Milkman

24
20

Stratford
Stratford

13 years
10 years

Methodist Church, Broadway, Stratford

13/5772

Wade, father

1 September 1913

Rev. E. B. Bandy, Methodist

No	46
Date of Notice	1 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Henry Meal	Alice Montrose Wade
BDM Match (97%)	Lewis Henry Neal	Alice Montrose Wade
	💍 1913/5441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Milkman
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	13 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Broadway, Stratford
Folio	13/5772
Consent	Wade, father
Date of Certificate	1 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. B. Bandy, Methodist

2 September 1913

Evelyn Leslie Hann
Jeannie Scott

Evelyn Leslie Hann
Jeannie Scott
💍 1913/5442

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
21

Stratford
Ngaere

32 years
7 years

Residence of A. M. Scott, Sole road, Ngaere

13/5773

2 September 1913

Rev. James Pathson, Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	2 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Evelyn Leslie Hann	Jeannie Scott
	💍 1913/5442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Ngaere
Length of Residence	32 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of A. M. Scott, Sole road, Ngaere
Folio	13/5773
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Pathson, Presbyterian

8 September 1913

James Brosbie
Nellie Penfold

James Crosbie
Nellie Penfold
💍 1913/5444

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
39

Mahoe
Mahoe

2 months
2 months

Residence of C. Penfold, Duthie road, Mahoe

13/5775

8 September 1913

Rev. W. H. Speer, Methodist

No	48
Date of Notice	8 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brosbie	Nellie Penfold
BDM Match (96%)	James Crosbie	Nellie Penfold
	💍 1913/5444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	39
Dwelling Place	Mahoe	Mahoe
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of C. Penfold, Duthie road, Mahoe
Folio	13/5775
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Speer, Methodist

15 September 1913

David John Charteris
Margaret Anastasia Leydon

David John Charteris
Margaret Anastasia Leydon
💍 1913/5443

Bachelor
Spinster

Bush contractor

32
29

Taihape
Toko

4 years
16 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

13/5774

15 September 1913

Rev. Father F. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	49
Date of Notice	15 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David John Charteris	Margaret Anastasia Leydon
	💍 1913/5443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bush contractor
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Toko
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	13/5774
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father F. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

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).