Intentions to Marry, 1918 Aria to Hunterville

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840477, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 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.

1918c contains pages 865-1248, covering districts from Aria to Hunterville

Page 967

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 December 1918 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

2 October 1918

Frederick Kraeft Wilkie
Ellen Margaret Reid

Frederick Kroeft Wilkie
Ellen Margaret Reid
💍 1918/6050

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

30
26

Waipawa
Stratford

3 days
26 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Stratford

5747

2 October 1918

J. D. C. Madill, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	2 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Kraeft Wilkie	Ellen Margaret Reid
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Kroeft Wilkie	Ellen Margaret Reid
	💍 1918/6050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	5747
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1918
Officiating Minister	J. D. C. Madill, Presbyterian

2 October 1918

Percival Thomas Bloxham
Maud Alice Benney

Percival Thomas Bloxham
Maud Alice Benney
💍 1918/6051

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Farm hand

21
21

Midhirst
Midhirst

21 years
3 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

5748

7 October 1918

G. W. Howard, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	2 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Thomas Bloxham	Maud Alice Benney
	💍 1918/6051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Farm hand
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	21 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	5748
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	G. W. Howard, Church of England

25 October 1918

Henry Jakes
Emily Bebb

Henry Jakes
Emily Bebb
💍 1918/6052

Widower
Spinster

Stable keeper
Housemaid

64
45

Stratford
Stratford

34 years
2 years

Wesleyan Church, Stratford

5749

25 October 1918

R. B. Tinsley, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	25 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Jakes	Emily Bebb
	💍 1918/6052
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Stable keeper	Housemaid
Age	64	45
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	34 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Stratford
Folio	5749
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1918
Officiating Minister	R. B. Tinsley, Methodist

25 October 1918

John Thomas Linehan
Annie Kathleen Burrell

John Thomas Linehan
Annie Kathleen Burrell
💍 1918/6053

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Clerk

22
23

Stratford
Stratford

2 years
23 years

The Manse, Regan Street, Stratford

5750

25 October 1918

J. D. C. Madill, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	25 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Linehan	Annie Kathleen Burrell
	💍 1918/6053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Clerk
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Regan Street, Stratford
Folio	5750
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1918
Officiating Minister	J. D. C. Madill, Presbyterian

9 November 1918

John William Bentley
Joy Annette Painter

John William Bentley
Ivy Annette Painter
💍 1918/6085

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic duties

35
23

Stratford
Stratford

4 months
9 days

Salvation Army Hall, Stratford

5751

9 November 1918

William Campion, Salvation Army

No	37
Date of Notice	9 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Bentley	Joy Annette Painter
BDM Match (95%)	John William Bentley	Ivy Annette Painter
	💍 1918/6085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic duties
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 months	9 days
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Stratford
Folio	5751
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1918
Officiating Minister	William Campion, Salvation Army

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).