Burke Surname

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Comment by Michelle McGee on September 24, 2012 at 7:33am

Love the contributions to this page. I hope one day we can find our lost ones. Burke was definitely a prolific surname.

Comment by Karen West on July 20, 2012 at 10:19am

My Burke family began in the US with Jonathan Burke (Bourke, Burk) who was said to have been born in Ireland about  1765 and came to the US as a young man. He married Hannah Williams and they traveled from North Carolina to Kentucky where they had children William, Benjamin, James, Rebecca, Freelove, Amelia, Mahalla, Cynthia, Samuel, Levinia. 

The family then traveled to Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas.

Comment by Christine Broad on May 21, 2012 at 7:26am

My ancestor is Esther Geiss Burke, who was born on 24 July 1880, in Paddington, Middlesex, UK.  Her parents were William Burke and Esther Cawse.  She married Percy Herbert Munton.

Comment by John on April 3, 2012 at 6:43pm

My 2nd great grandmother Catherine Burke, daughter of Edward Burke was born on 30 Nov 1845 in Dublin, Ireland and died 18 Jul 1918 in Chakrata, Uttaranchal, India, a British military base. Edward was born about 1820 in Donegal, Ireland.

I have very little information about them except for mention in the Cole family bible that I hold. They are included in my `Mayes' family tree on Ancestry.com.

There appears to have been an interest in perpetuating the name Burke as my Grandfather was named Christopher Burke Mayes and my younger brother who died recently was named Graham Burke Mayes.

I look forward to finding out more here.

Comment by Kim Kevin Callahan on March 1, 2012 at 11:30am

In a city you would call them sections.  In the northern plains or Rocky Mountain region they were referred to as settlements.  A settlement usually revolved around the local Catholic Church, no matter how rural the setting.  Case in point, there was a church in southeastern South Dakota that was called "Garryowen" Catholic Church.  It was pretty much all Irish that settled and farmed this region around the church.  Irish also settled around a "French" Catholic Church if it was the only one in the region.  That is what our family did in 1863.  The church was the focal point of their lives.  Weddings, baptisms, reunions, church picnics, etc...During the grasshopper plagues of the 1870s', the priest from the French Church led a procession of French & Irish members where they erected wooden crosses in certain fields and prayed for the grasshoppers to leave.   

 

Kim

Comment by Michelle McGee on March 1, 2012 at 11:07am

Yes but I don't have it off hand. I will have to get back with you on that one. What exactly do you mean my Irish settlements? In Mahoney City they had Irish sections, Lithuanian sections with their respective churches (usually Catholic) and they sometimes were right across the street from each other.

Comment by Kim Kevin Callahan on March 1, 2012 at 10:58am

Thanks for the response.  I agree, its quite odd that the Burke Family does not seem to leave any type of trail.  Most of our other Irish ancestors were pretty good about keeping records.  At present, I've been combing western military posts rolls of all Burke names that were assigned to forts in the Northern Plains between 1856-1900.  Came up with 56 names.  I will begin checking out each one of them in the hopes there is a connection.  It would have been unusal (not impossible) for him to have been an only child being Irish and all.  Did the Pennshylavani Burke Family work for particular mining company?  Also, did they happen to live in any Irish settlements?  

Kim                                                                                           

 

 

Comment by Michelle McGee on March 1, 2012 at 9:04am

Wow, what a story. Mine came to Pennsylvania and stayed there for the most part. They worked in the coal regions of Mahoney, Schuykill Cty, Pa and then to Allentown and Phlidelphia. Like you the earlier folks don't have much information other than "Ireland". That is why I put this out here. Good luck with your search. If I come across anything, I will put it out here. Evasive ones those Burkes.

Comment by Kim Kevin Callahan on February 29, 2012 at 4:04pm

Stephen Boyle Burke (1862-1904), was my Great-Great Grandfather.  Born in Ft. Laramie, Wyoming Territory.  Only one of the Burke family that is known.  Parents were from Ireland but no first names.  Steve spent most of his life on the frontier of Dakota Territory.  Was married to Rose McConville (1860-1947).  She was born near Jamestown, New York and family moved west.  She and some of her brother's settled in Devil's Colony, Dakota Territory across the Missouri River from Ft. Yates.  Steve was a Sioux Indian Interpreter with U.S. Quartermaster out of Ft. Yates.  Steve and Rose married in 1888 and had six children.  They lived on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation where Steve acted as an interpreter for Sitting Bull and lived just three miles from him.  He was present during the Ghost Dance craze of 1890 and when Sitting Bull was killed the same year.  He eventually lost his sight around 1899.  Family moved to Union County, SD in 1900.  Shortly there after, Steve unable to cope with blindness was placed in a state hospital at Yankton, SD where he died in 1904.  The name is variously spelled Birk or Burk, but he spelled in Burke.  If anyone has information they feel might be related, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Kim Callahan