SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

John Burke, Page 359

JOHN BURKE, a prosperous farmer of the town of Mitchell, owns a farm of ninety-nine acres of section 20, where he settled in 1851.  Mr. Burke was born March 20, 1820, in County Galway, Ireland, and is a son of Patrick and Bridget Burke.  They were born in the same county as their son, and passed their entire lives in the Old Country.

    Mr. Burke was married in Ireland, in 1846, to Mary Canfield, a daughter of John and Mary Canfield.  Mrs. Burke is a native of the same town as her husband.  In 1847, Mr. Burke and his young wife emigrated to Quebec, Canada, thence to Montreal, and later to St. Johns, New Brunswick.  Their next home was Burlington, Vt., from which place they removed to Royalton, in the same State.  The year 1850 witnessed the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Burke in the town of Mitchell, Sheboygan County, Wis., where they located.  Having worked in Fond du Lac and New Orleans for some time, he bought the farm on which he now resides.

    Onto Mr. and Mrs. Burke were born eleven children.  Patrick died at the age of two years; John married Mary Armand, and resides in this town; Thomas married Mary Butler, and is a merchant of Mitchell; Mary became the wife of Christopher Armand, of Duluth, Minn.; William died when two years old; Annie is the wife of John Gerroty, of Escanaba, Mich.; Bridget wedded Dennis Mullens, of the same place; Henry is a resident of the town of Mitchell; Edward married Bridget Connell, and lives on the home farm; William wedded Mary Franey, and makes his home in Denver, Colo.; and Frankie was killed at the age of four years and four months.  On the 29th of October, 1886, Mrs. Burke passed from among the living.  She was a consistent member of the Catholic Church, to which her husband also belongs.

    In his political views, Mr. Burke is a Democrat.  He is numbered among the substantial farmers and early settlers of the town of Mitchell, to whose citizens he as been known for forty-two years.