Intentions to Marry, 1914 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840454, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1914 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1914a), Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1914b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1914c).

Page 1011

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March '.1914.' 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

5 January '.1914.'

Stanley Robert Fraser Sharp
Florence Ann Ruth Serle

Stanley Robert Fraser Sharp
Florence Ann Cuthbert
💍 1914/6833

Bachelor
Spinster

Tobacconist

28
22

Stratford
Stratford

3 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Broadway, Stratford

665

5 January '.1914.'

E. Bandy, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January '.1914.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Robert Fraser Sharp	Florence Ann Ruth Serle
BDM Match (89%)	Stanley Robert Fraser Sharp	Florence Ann Cuthbert
	💍 1914/6833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Broadway, Stratford
Folio	665
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January '.1914.'
Officiating Minister	E. Bandy, Methodist

2 February '.1914.'

Michael Patrick Anderson
Glena Mary Bleasel

Michael Patrick Anderson
Elena Mary Bleasel
💍 1914/6836

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

26
23

Stratford
Stratford

13 years
11 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

663

Father J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

2 February '.1914.'

Father J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	2 February '.1914.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Patrick Anderson	Glena Mary Bleasel
BDM Match (97%)	Michael Patrick Anderson	Elena Mary Bleasel
	💍 1914/6836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	13 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	663
Consent	Father J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic
Date of Certificate	2 February '.1914.'
Officiating Minister	Father J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

4 February '.1914.'

George Eclipse Thompson
Ellen Holgerson

George Edijese Thompson
Ellen Holgerson
💍 1914/6552

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
21

Tariki
Tariki

4 years
6 years

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

330

4 February '.1914.'

S. H. James, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	4 February '.1914.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Eclipse Thompson	Ellen Holgerson
BDM Match (91%)	George Edijese Thompson	Ellen Holgerson
	💍 1914/6552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Tariki	Tariki
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	330
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February '.1914.'
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar

4 February '.1914.'

Patrick Campbell Patterson
Joyce Emily Pepperell

Patrick Campbell Patterson
Joyce Emily Pepperell
💍 1914/6835

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
20

Stratford
Stratford

5 years
3 years

Residence of Wm Rogers, Regan Street, Stratford

667

Susan Pepperell, mother

4 February '.1914.'

E. Bandy, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	4 February '.1914.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Campbell Patterson	Joyce Emily Pepperell
	💍 1914/6835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Wm Rogers, Regan Street, Stratford
Folio	667
Consent	Susan Pepperell, mother
Date of Certificate	4 February '.1914.'
Officiating Minister	E. Bandy, Methodist

4 February '.1914.'

John Hart
Jessie Mabel Corbett

John Hart
Jessie Mabel Corbett
💍 1914/6837

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

21
20

Toko
Toko

3 months
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Toko

669

Fanny Susan Corbett, mother

4 February '.1914.'

James Patterson, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	4 February '.1914.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hart	Jessie Mabel Corbett
	💍 1914/6837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Toko	Toko
Length of Residence	3 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Toko
Folio	669
Consent	Fanny Susan Corbett, mother
Date of Certificate	4 February '.1914.'
Officiating Minister	James Patterson, Presbyterian

25 February '.1914.'

Charles Hiddington
Charlotte Lavinia Wicks

Charles Liddington
Charlotte Levinia Wilks
💍 1914/9120

Bachelor
Spinster

Lineman

31
21

Stratford
Stratford

3 years
3 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

4216

25 February '.1914.'

W. A. Butter, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	25 February '.1914.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hiddington	Charlotte Lavinia Wicks
BDM Match (93%)	Charles Liddington	Charlotte Levinia Wilks
	💍 1914/9120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lineman
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	4216
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February '.1914.'
Officiating Minister	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).