Clarice Pearce was my great-aunt, her half-brother (James Perkis) being my grandfather. Her mother was Emma Pearce, a first-generation New Zealander from Wanganui. Emma was pregnant out of wedlock and the family sent her to live with an aunt in Christchurch, NZ. She gained employment as a housekeeper for a widower Robert Perkis, and they later married. Two sons were born from this union - my grandfather, and another who died in infancy. Robert & Emma later went their separate ways. Robert moved to Napier (his port of arrival); Emma moved to Auckland, and her two children later followed. Clarice & George did not have any children.

CWGC

George Cyril Vercoe
20678, 5 Field Regt., New Zealand Artillery who died on 26 June 1942 Age 41
Son of James Vercoe and of Ethel Vercoe (nee McCarthy), of Auckland City, New Zealand; husband of Clarice Vercoe, of Ponsonby, Auckland
Remembered with Honour
El Alamein War Cemetery

Going on this George was born in 1901

Thank you for the above information - Please note that Clarice and George Vercoe had an only child, Coralie, who died on 21st March 1930 aged only 10 weeks. (From PapersPast N.Z. Herald 22nd March 1930,Deaths,page 1.)

Do you have any information about James Austing Vercoes parents?

Ann Muir had been previously Married to James Austing. He died in 1885 in Auckland.

She had previously been married prior to arriving in Wellington in 1874 and her marriage certificate states she had been a widow.

When James Austing died in 1886 the death certificate states that Ann was his widow and was left with one 2 year old daughter and three sons aged 8, 6, and 5.

Does anyone know why when Ann married Richard Collins Vercoe not all the children took the Vercoe family name?

James Austing Vercoe was the commonly used name that the eldest child of James Austing and Ann Austing used in Adulthood e.g. on his marriage to Sarah McCarthy.James was born on the 2nd of April 1876 at Molesworth street Wellington. Then Thomas Beveridge born in 1878, George in 1880 and Ellen Sneddon in 1882. James Austing (senior) died on 2nd of January 1885 at the age of 46. Ann was married to Charles Muir on 14th Dec.1865 before emigrating to New Zealand like James. On the ships passenger list she appears as a single female.When Ann and Richard married the family moved to Herekino to a Government lease land scheme to break in the land and to farm. The family were known locally as the Vercoes although the children were in fact Austings. One can assume that as they reached adulthood they were able to make their own choice of name.

Thanks Aristocrat, makes a lot of sense.

My Father, the grandson of Thomas Beveridge Austing did not recall any of the family history.

The birth, death, and marriage certificates I had obtained provided more questions

As my Grandfather was James Austing Vercoe and my Father was born at Herekino I have been keen to research the family at Herekino. A further item regarding George (the youngest Austing boy) can be found on the PapersPast website in the New Zealand Herald on 06.07.03 which reports on a gun accident at Herekino on June 24th 1903 - The victim was known in the District as George Vercoe,(23) living with his stepfather Richard and mother Ann Vercoe. Mr George Vercoe was out alone in bushland to shoot a few pigeons when an accident with his gun proved fatal. In 1904, the only Austing girl, Ellen Snedden Austing Married Oscar
Albert Olsen.