I have great news! Today, I was able to in your document called Η ΦΟΥΡΚΑ ΤΗΣ ΗΠΕΙΡΟΥ which details the history of Fourka. In the document, it mentions Demetrius Toskas a lot. It also refers to him as Demetrius Fourkioti. The big news is that the document seems to suggest that Toskas father was from Fourka and lived there as a tailor making medieval National men and womens uniforms. On page 497 and 498, it also mentions that the family changed their name to FOURKIOTIS to hide from the Turks and that see Footnote #1 from the page - Nicholas Argyrou Koukouli left the village in 1835 for Krimini. From this we now that TOSKAS originated in Fourka and that his father was a tailor who made uniforms (our family kept this business in Krimini).

The family in Fourka used the name Fourkiotes to hide from the Turks. In the Book DEMETRIOS TOSKAS is DEMETRIOS FOURKIOTES. Thus, what we are looking information on now is this FOURKIOTES family in FOURKA that made uniforms for the solders. If you can think of any information here, let me know Regards, John Ράψιμο - Κέντημα, Ραφτάδες και Κεντητάδες: Απ την πολλή παλιά ακόμα εποχή, στο χωριό μας υπήρχαν πάνω από 150 τερζήδες (λ.τ. ραφτάδες). Τα περισσότερα σπίτια είχαν και ράφτη που ήξερε και να κεντάει. Σε πολλά σπίτια υπήρχαν κι από 3-4 ραφτάδες.

Δούλευαν όχι μόνο στο χωριό μας, αλλά και όλα τα χωριά της Κόνιτσας, στο Ζαγόρι και στο Μέ­τσοβο. Πολλοί όμως ταξίδευαν ομαδικά και σε χωριά της Δυτικής Μακεδονίας, στα Μέγαρα Αττικής, στη Θήβα, στην Πάτρα, στο Μεσολόγγι, στ Αγιονόρος, στην Αλεξανδρούπολη και τη Βόρειο Ήπειρο. Να τι γράφει σχετικά ο συνάδελφος Κώστας Λαζαρίδης στην εφημερίδα των Ιωαννίνων «Ηπειρωτικός Αγών 5.2.1970 σ. 2»: «Στο Μοναστήρι Ρογκοβού - Τσε­πελόβου - Ζαγορίου, υπάρχει η εξής επιγραφή στο νάρθηκα, στην εικόνα του Προδρόμου πούναι πάνω απ την είσοδο, που μπαίνουμε στην εκκλησία. Είναι γραμμένα με γράμματα Βυζαντινού τύπου, αλλά χωρίς χρονολογία: Δέησις του δούλου του Θεού ΔΙΜΟΥ ΡΑVΤΙ Φουρκιώτη». Ο αιωνόβιος χωριανός μου, μακαρίτης τώρα, Δημήτριος Αδ. Μπουζιά- 497 νης, μου διηγήθηκε ότι ο πατέρας του Φιλικού της Ελληνικής Επανάστασης, Δημητρίου Φουρκιώτη ή Ύπατρου, ήταν Φουρκιώτικης καταγωγής ράφτης και κεντητής των εξαίσιων ντόπιων μεσαιωνικών Εθνικών ανδρικών και γυναικείων στολών.

Επί τουρκοκρατίας δούλευε στο Μέτσοβο, όπου παντρεύτηκε μια πλού­σια Μετσοβίτισσα, συγγενή με την αρχοντική οικογένεια Αβέρωφ. Τότε χρησιμο­ποιούσαν το επίθετο Φουρκιώτης (απ τ όνομα του χωριού) και όχι το πραγματικό τους, γιατί φοβόταν τους Τουρκαλβανούς 1. Μαζί τους είχαν και τσιράκια (μαθητούρια, μαθητευόμενους). Έφευγαν απ το χωριό το φθινόπωρο ομαδικά, παρέες-παρέες κι επέστρεφαν το Πάσχα. Όσοι ταξίδευαν κοντά, έρχονταν τα Χριστούγεννα, τις Μεγάλες Αποκριές και το Πά­σχα. Το χειμώνα, πρωί και βράδυ, έπιναν και πόντζι (βρασμένη ρακή με ζάχαρη), ρουφώντας το απ το μολυβένιο στρογγυλό παγούρι για να ζεσταθούν. Το καλοκαίρι δούλευαν στο χωριό μας και στα καλύβια των αρβανιτόβλαχων κτηνοτρόφων του χωριού μας και της περιφέρειάς μας και μετά τον εμφύλιο πό­λεμο και σε χωριά της Παραμυθιάς, Καστοριάς και Πρέσπας της Φλώρινας, όπου κατοικούν αρβανιτόβλαχοι.

Σήμερα ελάχιστοι υπάρχουν, κι αυτοί γέροι. Μόνον εξακολουθεί το πατροπαράδοτο αυτό επάγγελμα ο μεσήλικας 1. «Ο πρώτος που άνοιξε ραφτάδικο στο Κριμίνι Κοζάνης το 1835 ήταν ο Νικόλαος Αργυρού Κου­κούλης απ τη Φούρκα της Ηπείρου». Αυτά γράφει ο Φώτης Παπανικολάου στο βιβλίο του: «Ιστορία του Κριμινίου θεσ/νίκη 1959, σ. 7 & 29».

To the people of FOUKA: I once again come to you in sincere need of your help. Without it, I may not be able to learn the full story of my family roots of when my great - great - great - great grandfather, Demetrius Toskas had some family move to Fourka. As you may know my family and I have been doing extensive research about our family roots and have evidence that we descend from Demetrios Toskas the armatole of Grevena area who lived between 1745 and 1808)

After his death we believe that our family may fled to the Fourka area. Around 1800 the family probably all lived in Fourka but then by 1835 most members left for different villages and changed their surnames to escape Ottoman persecution. Through research and documentation we many confirmed facts about my family in while they lived in Fourka: Around the year 1800 Argyros a tailor and merchant may have moved to Fourka(we still do not know his full name but believe he was one of the sons of Demetrius Toskas. Some people think the last name could be connected to Pipiliagkas. The also believe that the Toskas family may have a connection to the grandmother of your former president Christou Frangou).

The familys tailor business was not small business but rather a large one that included manufacturing purchasing and trading from Soufli all the way to Constantinople. We also believe that part of their business was to make uniforms for the Macedonian freedom fighters. He had 9 children and resided in Fourka:

The nine children were:

• Nicholas Koukouli a tailor who left to Krimini. He was born in 1820 and left for Krimini. This was my great-great-great grandfather.
• Chantava Koukouli a tailor who left to Krimini
• Alexis Marani a tailor who left to Borsia
• Elias Marani a tailor who left to Borsia
• Adamos Terzis a tailor who left to Kydonies He changed his name to Toskas when he arrived in Kydonies. He stated that was the real family name. There are Toskas families that have cofirmed this fact with us.
• Brother of Adamos Terzis who left to Kydonies. He was father of a priest named Papathansi Toskas
• Agni "Koukouli" left to Krimini and married carpenter names Manousis
• 2 other children that we do not know the names of Do you know of this family and its history in Fourka and its relation to Demetrius Toskas? Do you know of any information on Toskas I would like to try to find out the full name of the father of all these children so we can further trace our roots.

This information is extremely important to me and my family.

You can contact me at jlk@kokulis.com or fax in the U.S at +1-805-435-2566

With sincere thanks and regards

Vassilis I am not sure if there is a connection. We now believe that our family decended from the famous armatole Demetrius Toskas and after he was killed in 1809, the family chnaged their names and fled to Fourka. Nicholas (born in 1820) changed his name to Koukouli to signify his occupation as a silk trader

Dear People Of Fourka: I wanted to write to you to share the progress I have made in determining my Koukoulis family history in Fourka and ask you some further questions. Using help from Fourka village officials, conversations with people that knew the families that emigrated from Fourka, and from our own Koukoulis family manuscript, we now know the following: Argyros, a tailor (we still do not know his last name) had ten children and resided in Fourka around 1790 thru early 1800s.

During this time the family had to change its name many times to escape Ottoman persecution. Thus, the last names of some of the children were different.

The ten children were:

• Nicholas Koukouli, a tailor born in 1820 who left to Krimini in 1835 (confirmed by Koukoulis manuscript, Fourka book, and Mrs. Adamou story) . He used the last name Koukouli for "silk" that he sold
• Chantava Koukouli, a tailor who left to Krimini (confirmed by Fourka book) • Alexis Marani, a tailor who left to Borsia (confirmed by Fourka book, and Mrs. Adamou story)
• Elias Marani, a tailor who left to Borsia (confirmed by Fourka book)
• Adamos Terzis, a tailor who left to Kydonies (confirmed by Koukoulis manuscript and Mrs. Adamou story) . He used the name Terzis which was Turkish for tailor. Once he arrived in Kydonies, he changed his name back to Toskas. There is documentation that he lived there in 1854.
• Brother of Adamos Terzis who left to Kydonies (confirmed by Mrs. Adamou story). This man has a grandson named Papathanasi TOSKA, who was a priest in Kydonies and was killed by the Nazies in 1941-42 in Kydonies. There is a monument dedicated to him at the place where he was killed.
• Agni "Koukouli" left to Krimini and married carpenter names Manousis
• 2 other children that we do not know the names of What is also interesting about the information from Mrs. Adamou is the description of the occupation of the "tailor business" of our family.

It appears that it was not a small business but rather a large one that included manufacturing, purchasing and trading from Soufli all the way to Constantinople. Thus, the business must have been very well known at the time by the villagers of Fourka at the time. So, I guess that question we now face is: what was the real surname of our family while it was in Fourka@P1@P2 Well, we know that Adamos used " Terzis" because it meant "Tailor" in Turkish. I think "koukoulis" means cocoon or silk, so maybe Nicholas used that last name again to symbolize their business as "tailors."

In my talks with Mrs. Adamou she believed the family name was Toskas, but who really knows@P3 So I must once again bother you with more questions: With this new information, do you have any further information about my family@P4 I would like to try to find out the full name of the father of all these children. We know from our family manuscript that his first name might be Argyros. I wonder now if that was his last name. we know the family had a large tailor-merchant business. With this new information, please let me know any new facts you may find. The people of Fourka have been so very helpful to me in helping me learn about my roots.

I truly appreciate all your assistance.

With sincere thanks and regards, John Koukoulis

Με λένε Φούρκα! Ναι, αυτό είναι το επώνυμό μου και θέλω να σας πώ οτι το χωριό σας είναι πανέμορφο! Ελπίζω κάποτε να το επισκεφτώ.