Intentions to Marry, 1917 Aria to Masterton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840471, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 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.

1917c contains pages 862-1282, covering districts from Aria to Masterton

Page 963

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar S. G. Stanton

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

31 January 1917

Charles Arthur Saward
Alice Rosaline Wakelin

Charles Arthur Saward
Aice Rosalind Wakelin
💍 1917/1842

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

31
31

Stratford
Stratford

3 days
3 days

Church of England at Stratford

973

31 January 1917

Rev G. W. Howard, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	31 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Arthur Saward	Alice Rosaline Wakelin
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Arthur Saward	Aice Rosalind Wakelin
	💍 1917/1842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England at Stratford
Folio	973
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev G. W. Howard, Church of England

14 February 1917

Douglas Ronald Turnbull
Jessie Maud Ina Smith

Douglas Ronald Turnbull
Jessie Maud Ina Smith
💍 1917/1841

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

22
22

Stratford
Stratford

4 days
8 years

Presbyterian Church Stratford

972

14 February 1917

Rev J. D. C. Madill, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	14 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Ronald Turnbull	Jessie Maud Ina Smith
	💍 1917/1841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Stratford
Folio	972
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J. D. C. Madill, Presbyterian

14 February 1917

Francis Frederick Daniels
Theresa Anne Scannell

Francis Frederick Daniels
Theresa Anne Scannell
💍 1917/1840

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

23
22

Stratford
Stratford

6 months
10 years

Roman Catholic Church Stratford

971

14 February 1917

Rev Father D. S. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	14 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Frederick Daniels	Theresa Anne Scannell
	💍 1917/1840
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	6 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Stratford
Folio	971
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Father D. S. Maples, Roman Catholic

19 February 1917

Henry Milford
Grace Hannah Murphy

Henry Hickford
Grace Hannah Murphy
💍 1917/1839

Widower (20-8-1911)
Widow (11-12-1913)

Gardener
Nurse

74
60

Stratford
Midhirst

11 months
6 months

Registrar's Office at Stratford

970

19 February 1917

Wm J. Reeve, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	19 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Milford	Grace Hannah Murphy
BDM Match (89%)	Henry Hickford	Grace Hannah Murphy
	💍 1917/1839
Condition	Widower (20-8-1911)	Widow (11-12-1913)
Profession	Gardener	Nurse
Age	74	60
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Midhirst
Length of Residence	11 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office at Stratford
Folio	970
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Wm J. Reeve, Registrar

27 February 1917

Joseph Bewley
Jessie Edith Biggar

Joseph Bewley
Jessie Edith Biggar
💍 1917/1837

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

29
22

Moahoe
Stratford

2 Months
1 Week

Registrar's Office Stratford

969

27 February 1917

Wm J. Reeve, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	27 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bewley	Jessie Edith Biggar
	💍 1917/1837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Moahoe	Stratford
Length of Residence	2 Months	1 Week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Stratford
Folio	969
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Wm J. Reeve, Registrar

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).