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 1019

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar J. S. 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

4 July 1914

John Joseph Sklenars
Ruby Monica Fowler

John Joseph Sklenars
Ruby Monica Fowler
💍 1914/1741

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

31
22

Taihape
Midhirst

10 months
1 month

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

5361

4 July 1914

Rev. F. J. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	36
Date of Notice	4 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Sklenars	Ruby Monica Fowler
	💍 1914/1741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Midhirst
Length of Residence	10 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	5361
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Maples, Roman Catholic

10 July 1914

Herbert William Hancock
Ida Johanna Sattler

Herbert William Hancock
Ida Johanna Sattler
💍 1914/1747

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
23

Stratford
Waipukurau

24 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

5367

10 July 1914

Rev. F. J. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	10 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Hancock	Ida Johanna Sattler
	💍 1914/1747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	24 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	5367
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Maples, Roman Catholic

16 July 1914

William James Swindlehurst
Ruth Ina Hancock

William James Swindlehurst
Ruth Ina Hancock
💍 1914/1744

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
20

Ngaere
Stratford

2 weeks
20 years

Methodist Church, Broadway, Stratford

5364

Peter Hancock, father

16 July 1914

Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	16 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Swindlehurst	Ruth Ina Hancock
	💍 1914/1744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Ngaere	Stratford
Length of Residence	2 weeks	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Broadway, Stratford
Folio	5364
Consent	Peter Hancock, father
Date of Certificate	16 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

27 July 1914

Francis Andrew Mackay
Wilhelmina Annie Lehmann

Francis Andrew Mackay
Wilhelmina Annie Lehmann
💍 1914/1743

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
22

Cardiff
Stratford

2 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Broadway, Stratford

5363

27 July 1914

Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

No	39
Date of Notice	27 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Andrew Mackay	Wilhelmina Annie Lehmann
	💍 1914/1743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Cardiff	Stratford
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Broadway, Stratford
Folio	5363
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reader, Methodist

29 July 1914

Ronald Edward Plews
Margaret Ann Jones

Ronald Edward Plews
Margaret Ann Jones
💍 1914/1745

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
22

Midhirst
Midhirst

26 years
22 years

Residence of Griffith Jones, Salisbury Road, Midhirst

5365

29 July 1914

Rev. J. Pattison, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	29 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Edward Plews	Margaret Ann Jones
	💍 1914/1745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	26 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Griffith Jones, Salisbury Road, Midhirst
Folio	5365
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Pattison, Presbyterian

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).