All right, I've wanted to put into writing some family history which is part of your background as it comes through Grandpa and Grandma Barcus. This Part 1 is the start and I will try to give a reasonable explanation maybe with a touch of humor here and there.
The name "Barcus" comes, as far as I've been able to learn, from Basque Country in Acquitaine Province, France. In French the village name is Barcus but in Euskera, the local language, it is Barkoxe in Herria Euskal, or the land of the Euskal people as they call it, but the Spanish called them Los Vascos while the French and British called them the Basques. Basque country today is divided between Spain and France in the Pyrenees Mountains and it has its own language and culture with at least several local dialects of the Euskal, or Basque, language. Generally the government of Spain has attempted to be more accommodating towards the Vascos, or Basques, within its national borders while the French have, perhaps, shown more indifference toward anything which is not distinctly French in culture and language. I encourage you to do your own further reading on this topic. It turned out that friends of mine, Dean Ortiz and Pat Nolan, were of Basque descent. If anyone by the name of Barcus or Barkoxe still lives in that region in France I can't say. The village of Barkoxe is known for the Chilo Hotel and that's about all I have discovered about it other than the great French annual bicycle race has often been routed through that area.
