Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Burke, Thomas J. August 8, 1848 - ????
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 January 9, 2025, 4:15 pm

Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892.
Author: Samuel T. Wiley

THOMAS J. BURKE,
general manager of the house furnishing firm of C. V. Burke & Co., of
Altoona, and chairman of the Blair county democratic committee, is a son of
Patrick Henry and Margaret (Sullivan) Burke, and was born in Genesee
township, Potter county, Pennsylvania, August 8, 1848.  His paternal
grandfather, John Burke, was born in the town of Mullingar, county of
Westmeath, Ireland, and in 1836 settled in the Dominion of Canada, which he
left two years later to become a resident of New York.  He was a civil
engineer by profession, was a member of the corps of engineers that located
the Genesee valley canal, upon whose construction he was a contractor for
several years, with headquarters at Rochester, New York.  He was a Catholic
in religious belief, and died at the residence of his son, Patrick H., in
Potter county, Pennsylvania, in 1864, at seventy-eight years of age.  His
son, Patrick H. Burke (father), was born in the town of Roscommon, County
Roscommon, Ireland, and came, in 1838, to New York, where he was engaged with
his father for four years in contracting on the Genesee valley canal, between
Olean and Rochester.  At the end of that time, in 1842, he removed to Potter
county, this State, where he followed contracting on the Erie and
Pennsylvania railroads until a few years before his death, in 1884, at
sixty-seven years of age.  He was a member of the Catholic church and a
democrat in politics, and owned a large farm in Potter county.  He married
Margaret Sullivan, a native of Bangor, Maine, who died in April, 1872, at
forty-seven years of age.
   Thomas J. Burke was reared on the farm until he was sixteen years of
age, and after completing his academic course, entered the Edinboro State
Normal school of Erie county, Pennsylvania, from which favorably and well
known educational institution he was graduated in the class of 1868.  Leaving
Erie county he was engaged in teaching in Potter and McKean counties for four
years, but in the meantime, in 1869, had embarked in the general mercantile
and lumber business, which he followed in Elk and Clearfield counties until
1874.  From 1869 to 1874 he read law with Hon. J. G. Hall & Bro.  In 1874 he
engaged, at St. Mary's, Elk county, in the insurance and shipping business,
which he pursued until 1885, when he came to Altoona to assume his present
position as manager of the large house furnishing firm of C. V. Burke & Co. 
The large and well appointed house furnishing bazaar of this firm extends
from 1507 to 1513 on Eleventh avenue, where they keep in stock everything
that pertains to the proper furnishing of a modern home.  The establishment
is divided into sixteen departments, which are presided over by courteous
managers.  The firm sells on the installment plan, and has a large patronage
in Altoona and the surrounding country.
   In 1872 Mr. Burke married Ida G. Brunau, of Clearfield county, who died
in 1881.  In 1884 he wedded Carrie V. McHenry, of Dubois, Clearfield county,
and to this second union have been born three children:  Ida R., Margaret
Ethel, and Kathleen May.
   Thomas J. Burke has met with good success in his different business
enterprises.  He is a member of the Knights of the Golden Eagle, a past
chancellor of Logan Lodge, No. 79, Knights of the Pythias, and a member of
the Grand Lodge of the Knights of Honor of Pennsylvania.  In politics Mr.
Burke has always been a democrat of pronounced views, and at the present time
is a friend and warm supporter of Governor Pattison, of Pennsylvania.  He
served as auditor of Elk county from 1872 to 1875, and as justice of the
peace from 1875 to 1881, besides having held the office of notary public for
six years.  Within the last eleven years he has served repeatedly as a
delegate from McKean, Elk, Clearfield, and Blair counties, to democratic
State conventions.  Thomas J. Burke has always been unswerving and active in
the support of the principles of democracy as advanced by Jefferson and
Jackson and Cleveland, and believes that the highest prosperity of the nation
is only to be attained under a democratic administration of the government.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Beth Fladaker  Eflad@aol.com

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