Intentions to Marry, 1923 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840514, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923c contains pages 895-1334, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1305

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar J. B. Robins

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

16 October 1923

James Reid
Isabella Jane Finnie Brown

James Reid
Isabella Jane Finnie Brown
💍 1923/7047

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Secretary

34
27

Stratford
Stratford

34 years
2 months

Residence of A. W. Reid, Miranda Street, Stratford

9166

16 October 1923

Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	16 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Reid	Isabella Jane Finnie Brown
	💍 1923/7047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Secretary
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	34 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of A. W. Reid, Miranda Street, Stratford
Folio	9166
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

16 October 1923

William Ian Grierson
Mary Brown Ewart

William Ian Grierson
Mary Brown Ewart
💍 1923/7048

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
22

Tokos
Tokos

3 months
1 week

John Grierson's Residence, Waiwera Road, Tokos

9167

16 October 1923

Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	16 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ian Grierson	Mary Brown Ewart
	💍 1923/7048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Tokos	Tokos
Length of Residence	3 months	1 week
Marriage Place	John Grierson's Residence, Waiwera Road, Tokos
Folio	9167
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

25 October 1923

Walter Frederick Barker
Lorna Pearl Hancock

Walter Frederick Barker
Lorna Pearl Hancock
💍 1923/7049

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Shop Assistant

22
22

Cardiff
Stratford

11 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Stratford

9168

25 October 1923

Rev. L. B. Neale, Methodist

No	59
Date of Notice	25 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Frederick Barker	Lorna Pearl Hancock
	💍 1923/7049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Shop Assistant
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Cardiff	Stratford
Length of Residence	11 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	9168
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. B. Neale, Methodist

30 October 1923

William Barnett Kirkby
Olive May Goodwin

William Barnett Kirkby
Olive May Goodwin
💍 1923/7050

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
32

Tuna
Tuna

20 years
3 months

Church of England, Stratford

9169

30 October 1923

Rev. C. W. Howard, Church of England

No	60
Date of Notice	30 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Barnett Kirkby	Olive May Goodwin
	💍 1923/7050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Tuna	Tuna
Length of Residence	20 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Stratford
Folio	9169
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Howard, Church of England

5 November 1923

Raymond Bottier Maitland
Dorothy Rose Rita Childs

Raymond Cottier Maitland
Dorothy Rose Rita Childs
💍 1923/7052

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Porter
Domestic Duties

24
22

Stratford
Stratford

2 years
22 years

Registrar's Office, Stratford

9170

5 November 1923

J. B. Robins, Registrar

No	61
Date of Notice	5 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Bottier Maitland	Dorothy Rose Rita Childs
BDM Match (98%)	Raymond Cottier Maitland	Dorothy Rose Rita Childs
	💍 1923/7052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Stratford
Folio	9170
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1923
Officiating Minister	J. B. Robins, 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).