Intentions to Marry, 1916 Aria to Masterton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840465, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1916c contains pages 931-1380, covering districts from Aria to Masterton

Page 1042

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar 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

24 July 1916

Henry Cook
Ellen Mary Hewson

Henry Cook
Ellen Mary Hewson
💍 1916/14423

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
26

Oanui, Opunake
Greytown

3 months
18 months

Residence of Mr Ewan Jackson, York road

5641

24 July 1916

Rev. G. W. Howard, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	24 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Cook	Ellen Mary Hewson
	💍 1916/14423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Oanui, Opunake	Greytown
Length of Residence	3 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Ewan Jackson, York road
Folio	5641
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Howard, Church of England

29 July 1916

Charles George Booker
Ella Gladys Stretch

Charles George Booker
Ella Gladys Stretch
💍 1916/14598

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
24

Toko
Stratford

9 years
2 years

The Manse, Regan street, Stratford

5644

29 July 1916

Rev. G. A. Kennedy, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	29 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles George Booker	Ella Gladys Stretch
	💍 1916/14598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Toko	Stratford
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Regan street, Stratford
Folio	5644
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Kennedy, Presbyterian

1 August 1916

William Bowler
Winifred Ellen Fitzgerald

William Bowler
Winifred Ellen Fitzgerald
💍 1916/14427

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk

26
20

Stratford
Stratford

16 years
16 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

5645

John Fitzgerald, father

1 August 1916

Father F. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	32
Date of Notice	1 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bowler	Winifred Ellen Fitzgerald
	💍 1916/14427
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	16 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	5645
Consent	John Fitzgerald, father
Date of Certificate	1 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Father F. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

4 August 1916

George Thomas Ross
Alma Pearl Watkin

George Thomas Ross
Alma Pearl Watkin
💍 1916/14425

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
21

Huiroa
Huiroa

2 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Huiroa

5643

4 August 1916

Rev. G. Akers, Methodist

No	33
Date of Notice	4 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Ross	Alma Pearl Watkin
	💍 1916/14425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Huiroa	Huiroa
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Huiroa
Folio	5643
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Akers, Methodist

25 August 1916

John Reginald Loftus Stanford
Sylvia Bethell Abraham

John Reginald Loftus Stanford
Sylvia Bethell Abraham
💍 1916/3054

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

38
25

Stratford
Palmerston North

13 years
25 years

All Saints' Church, Palmerston North

5776

25 August 1916

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	25 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Reginald Loftus Stanford	Sylvia Bethell Abraham
	💍 1916/3054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	13 years	25 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Palmerston North
Folio	5776
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, 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).