Thank you for listing your grandfather's siblings. I don't see Anna there, so perhaps they were cousins? My grandmother told me years ago that French peasants pretty much stuck to a limited number of first names, hence the problems with determining if a particular Joseph Bacque is your ancestor.

Or, perhaps she just doesn't appear for one reason or another in your family history. I'm relying on my late grandmother's memory for all the info I have on Bacques and Servats; perhaps Pauline was also called Anna? Or a baptismal or saint's name?

While researching my maternal grandmother's siblings, I found a daughter who lived only a year that I'd never heard of before, and found no reference to a baby boy who died of pneumonia as an infant. So it's not all that precise on my end.

Are you pretty sure about Joseph Bacque's siblings and their dates?

I'd be happy to share with you any info I can dig up on my end. Besides rejoining Ancestry, I want to go find a nearby LDS genealogical center to do my own research on the European side.

I think the dates are accurate. I have several cousins who have been to France and have hung around with our French cousins, so they have been able to dig up some info.

The name Bacque, by the way, refers to "one who keeps the cows", according to one of my cousins who traveled to France and has tried to dig up some history on our family. And there are a ton of Bacques in the Pyrenees.

That's so funny about the names, another Erce researcher on this same thread sent me some info on the etymology of French patronyms, and what the names mean. My grandmother told me that after the First World War ended, when the men who survived came back to Erce, the cows were afraid of them and would only respond to the women, who had taken over the farms with their voluminous black skirts. I might be remembering differently but I seem to recall her telling me an amusing story about how her father had to hold up his wife's black skirt or put it on to get the cows to follow him.

Like you said, there are a ton of Bacques in the area, and who knows how many of them had their names edited when they arrived in America, to Bache, Bock, Bach, etc.

Your names and dates at least give me a starting point to do my own research and eliminate leads that don't pan out, so I'm grateful to have any info you can share with me.

Hi. I came across your string of postings when doing a general search for "BACQUE". My husband's biological father was John Gilbert BACQUE. He never knew him as a child because his mother divorced and remarried and he was adopted by her second husband. We were lucky to relocate John BACQUE in about 2002. But unfortunately, he died in 2005. This is the information we were told by him and that I have confirmed by researching and finding census information:

John Gilbert BACQUE
b.26 May 1936 Oakland, California
Father: John Pierre BACQUE
Mother: Julia ALVAREZ

John Pierre BACQUE
b.4 February 1901 Albany, California
Father: John Marie BACQUE
Mother: Guadalupe TORRES

John Marie BACQUE
b. August 1852(from 1900 census) France
d. ca.1911 Livermore, Alameda, California

John G. BACQUE told us that his grandfather was French Basque. That was the only information he had. I have not been able to find any BACQUE'S nearby in any census. I have not found John Marie BACQUE prior to 1900(that I can be certain of). His immigration dates are 1875/1889 on two census's. John Marie also had a son named Prosper TORRES BAQUE who was born in 1882 in Napa, California. Do you have any missing Johns who would connect to mine?

Thanks,
Margaret

I do not think my BACQUEs connect to yours. The BACQUEs of my family tree were situated in Gers, 150 Kms from Pays Basque, between 1740 and 1850. They never moved from that part of France. The name BACQUE is a very common name in South-West of France. But you can be sure that your John Marie (certainly Jean-Marie in Fench) was not basque. I could have lived in Pays Basque, but his name is french, not basque.
Sorry for my poor english, but I am french.

My grandfather Joseph Bacque(1876 - 1938)came to the United States from Erce, France around the turn of the century. He married Julie Sentenat on 6-10-1906 in NYC. They moved to Vineland, NJ and their children were all born in Vineland. I am the only relative who moved to the west coast. I now live in San Rafael, CA. My grandfather Joseph Bacque's father is also Joseph Bacque, born in 1837, married Marie Anna Faur Pale, born in 1840.

Hello Everyone!



The name "BACQUE" is found in this area of France that is the southwest part of France if it is not a deformation of the word "Basque".

You could try searching for the name in the Department of the Pyrenees Atlantique, Pau. We also find the surname in southwest France all along the Pyrenees Mountains including Bordeaux, Toulouse and more to the east, Perpignan. There are Baques here in the village where I live here in Gers.

Most Respectfully,


Jacques

I have a first cousin, Monique Dorothee, who lives in Pau. Her mother is Anna Marie Bacque.

I can only trace my ancestors to my ggrandparents, who were French, not Basque. I have heard that Bacque and it's variations is a common name in the area and means one who keeps cows.

My late grandmother had a great niece who went to live in the 16th century stone farmhouse in Erce as an adult about 20 years ago, but unfortunately she does not speak or write English and I don't know French.

Thank you to everyone who responded. I guess I will have to try and find the death certificate for the first John Pierre BACQUE who died in 1911 and maybe they at least have a more specific area in France where he came from. I will look again on the ship lists that I have access to and maybe find something there. If I do you may hear from me again.

Margaret