Intentions to Marry, 1922 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840506, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1922c contains pages 877-1290, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1251

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1922 Registrar S. A. 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

10 January 1922

Thomas Arthur Patterson
Winifred Hamilton

Thomas Arthur Patterson
Winifred Hamilton
💍 1922/1873

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic servant

39
30

Stratford
Midhirst

9 years
18 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

1645

10 January 1922

E. J. Orange, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	10 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arthur Patterson	Winifred Hamilton
	💍 1922/1873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic servant
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Midhirst
Length of Residence	9 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	1645
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1922
Officiating Minister	E. J. Orange, Presbyterian

4 February 1922

William Hennebry
Mary Agnes O'Connor

William Hennebry
Mary Agnes O'Connor
💍 1922/1874

Findlay Robert Cameron
Mary Agnes O'Connor
💍 1922/6136

Bachelor
Spinster

Bridge builder
Dressmaker

45
37

Stratford
Stratford

1 week
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

1646

4 February 1922

J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	4 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hennebry	Mary Agnes O'Connor
	💍 1922/1874
BDM Match (61%)	Findlay Robert Cameron	Mary Agnes O'Connor
	💍 1922/6136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bridge builder	Dressmaker
Age	45	37
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	1 week	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	1646
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1922
Officiating Minister	J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

13 February 1922

Lawrence Andrew Bradley
Helena Rose Bretherton

Lawrence Andrew Bradley
Helena Rose Bretherton
💍 1922/1875

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
23

Stratford
Stratford

4 days
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

1647

13 February 1922

J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	13 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Andrew Bradley	Helena Rose Bretherton
	💍 1922/1875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	1647
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1922
Officiating Minister	J. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

21 February 1922

John Curtis Allen
Mabel Isabelle Hoole

John Curtis Allen
Mabel Isabella Hoole
💍 1922/1876

Widower (February 12, 1915)
Divorced (Decree absolute February 18, 1922)

Bank manager

41
32

Stratford
Stratford

3 years
3 years

Residence of Bridegroom, Beacon road, Stratford

1648

21 February 1922

J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	21 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Curtis Allen	Mabel Isabelle Hoole
BDM Match (98%)	John Curtis Allen	Mabel Isabella Hoole
	💍 1922/1876
Condition	Widower (February 12, 1915)	Divorced (Decree absolute February 18, 1922)
Profession	Bank manager
Age	41	32
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom, Beacon road, Stratford
Folio	1648
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1922
Officiating Minister	J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

28 February 1922

John Macpherson
Violet Evelyn Clegg

John Macpherson
Violet Evelyn Clegg
💍 1922/1877

Bachelor
Widow (August 20, 1920)

Farmer

46
35

Stratford
Stratford

3 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Stratford

1649

28 February 1922

S. A. James, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	28 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Macpherson	Violet Evelyn Clegg
	💍 1922/1877
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (August 20, 1920)
Profession	Farmer
Age	46	35
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Stratford
Folio	1649
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1922
Officiating Minister	S. A. James, 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).