Introduction / Families / Harcus / William Harcus (Hercus) and Janet Groat / William Harcus (Hercus) and Barbara Swordie / William Harcus and Jane Harcus

John William Harcus

John William Harcus (b. 28th September 1870) was the youngest of the four children of William Harcus and Jane Harcus. His father had drowned earlier that year. He was born in Kirkwall.

He emigrated to the US in 1889 and married Barbara O Miller on 21st September 1893 in Manhattan. Barbara was born in Scotland in July 1870 and had come to the US in 1893.

They were in Brooklyn, New York in 1900. John and Barbara had two children:

• William Harcus, born 19th August 1894, New York who married, first, in Manhattan on 7th December 1915 Dora Augusta Tanzer and, second, also in Manhattan on 16th February 1926, Dora’s widowed sister Ida Tanzer Spaeth. They were daughters of Fred Tanzer and Anna Huebner of Hoboken, New Jersay. He probably died in Hudson, New Jersey in December 1977.

• Robert F Harcus, born 12th July 1898, New York who married in Manhattan on 16th February 1926. He probably died in Hudson, New Jersey in April 1973.

Barbara and her son William were listed as servants in Manhattan in 1910. Frederick, aged 12, (presumably Robert F) was also listed. Barbara was indicated as married rather than widowed although it is not known if the latter was the case. There is the probability that John had died in Brooklyn on 30th May 1906.

In 1918, Barbara was living in New Jersey according to her son Robert’s WWI draft registration card and in 1920 she and Frederick were in a boarding house in New Jersey.