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 1020

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

James Groshinski
Louisa Benney

James Groshinski
Louisa Benney
💍 1914/1746

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
20

Midhurst
Stratford

22 years
5 months

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

5366

Charles Frederick Benney, Father

1 August 1914

Rev. F. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	41
Date of Notice	1 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Groshinski	Louisa Benney
	💍 1914/1746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	Stratford
Length of Residence	22 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	5366
Consent	Charles Frederick Benney, Father
Date of Certificate	1 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

4 August 1914

Albert Harry Fever
Maude Evelyn Divehall

Albert Harry Fern
Maud Evelyn Divehall
💍 1914/1742

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
30

Stratford
Stratford

2 years
30 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

5362

4 August 1914

Rev. G. W. Howard, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	4 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Harry Fever	Maude Evelyn Divehall
BDM Match (89%)	Albert Harry Fern	Maud Evelyn Divehall
	💍 1914/1742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	5362
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Howard, Church of England

15 August 1914

Harry Leopold Spratt
Zaida Pauline Bayly

Harry Leopold Spratt
Zaide Pauline Bayley
💍 1914/1761

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

25
21

Stratford
Stratford

18 months
3 years

Office of The Registrar at Stratford

5357

15 August 1914

S. J. James, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	15 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Leopold Spratt	Zaida Pauline Bayly
BDM Match (95%)	Harry Leopold Spratt	Zaide Pauline Bayley
	💍 1914/1761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	18 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of The Registrar at Stratford
Folio	5357
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1914
Officiating Minister	S. J. James, Registrar

19 August 1914

Thomas John Moore
Elsie Brown

Thomas John Moore
Elsie Brown
💍 1914/3049

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
21

Ngaere
Mangamingi

4 years
21 years

Residence of Robert Brown, Rukumoana

6750

Robert Brown

19 August 1914

Rev. G. W. Dent, Church of England

No	44
Date of Notice	19 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Moore	Elsie Brown
	💍 1914/3049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Ngaere	Mangamingi
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Brown, Rukumoana
Folio	6750
Consent	Robert Brown
Date of Certificate	19 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, Church of England

21 August 1914

George William Pratt
Ada Ann Reeves

George William Pratt
Ada Ann Reeves
💍 1914/1760

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic

34
31

Stratford
Stratford

7 years
10 months

Office of The Registrar at Stratford

5356

21 August 1914

S. J. James, Registrar

No	45
Date of Notice	21 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Pratt	Ada Ann Reeves
	💍 1914/1760
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	7 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Office of The Registrar at Stratford
Folio	5356
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1914
Officiating Minister	S. J. James, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).