William Stewart, the brother of Joseph Stewart who was our great-great grandfather, married Margaret Burke in Downpatrick Registry Office in 1851. William and Margaret Stewart's daughter, Jane Stewart, married the watchmaker James Malcom Orr in Belfast in 1875.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2012/08/james-m-orr-watchmaker-and-jane-stewart.html
Jane Orr, née Stewart, was known to have a cousin named Hugh Burke.
Hugh Burke was actually Hugh Geddes Burke, born 12th July 1862 in Belfast.
He emigrated to the US/Canada aboard the 'Niagara', and arrived at Niagara Falls, New York, on 18th July 1882. However, he must have returned to Ireland at some stage since, in the latter half of 1885, he married his first wife, Agnes Girvan, in Lisburn.
The 1891 Canadian Census shows the family living in Hamilton, Ontario - Hugh Burke, aged 32, was Presbyterian and the manager of a mill. His wife was Agnes, who had been born in Ireland in about 1865; she gave her religion as Church of England. They had three children - Athel Burke, born in Ireland in about 1887, William J. Burke, born in Ireland in about 1889/1890, and five-month-old Olive Irene who, according to this census return, had been born in Ireland. However, a record of her birth exists in the Canadian records, which states that she had been born on 7th December 1890 in Hamilton, Wentworth, to Hugh Burke and Agnes Girvan. None of these children survived, and neither did their mother. Agnes Burke died on 13th June 1897, st 33 Reginald Street, Wentworth, Ontario, of pulmonary consumption. She had been a box-maker, and was noted here as a Presbyterian.
The family must have been coming and going between North America and Ireland at this time.
From the Pennsylvania Immigration Records, Board of Special Inquiry', dated December 8th 1900: 'State: Hugh is 7 years and Olive is 9 years old. Their father is Hugh G. Burke and is in Virginia, near Norfolk, working in a saw-mill. Their mother is dead, and they were born in Hamilton, Canada, then went to live with their grandmother in England, who is now dead and they are on their way to their father. Are to be met here by their uncle, James Orr. Jas. Orr calls and states: resides at 2057 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, is an uncle of avove-named children. Is in the United States 16 years and is an American citizen. Is in business at the above address. Says the father of the children wrote him that he should meet them on arrival and send them to him. Passed by Assistant Inspector Ehilick.'
The corresponding passenger list shows the two young children travelling unaccompanied aboard the 'SS Pennland' from Liverpool to Philadelphia in December 1900. The manifest states that they had been born in Canada, but that their last place of residence was Belfast, not England. Their final destination was their father in Norfolk, Virginia, via their Uncle James Orr at Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia. James Orr was actually married to their father's first cousin, Jane Stewart Orr, but maybe it was just easier to describe him as an uncle.
Hugh Burke moved himself and his family to Knoxville, Tennessee on 1st October 1896, according to his application for citizenship later; however, in 1900 he was living at Norfolk, Virginia, according to the ship's manifest of the 'SS Pennland'.
In about 1898 he married his second wife, Susan Gray, who had been born in Ireland in about 1866, and who had emigrated to the US in 1879.
By 1910 he was living at 913 North Fifth Avenue, Knoxville, with his wife, Susan Gray Burke, and his three children - Olive Irene, Hugh, and Virginia M. Burke.
By 1912, he'd moved to his permanent address of 1338 North Broadway, Knoxville, Tennessee, where he applied for citizenship - this application was witnessed by his boss, George B. Townsend, the director of the Holston Box and Lumber Company.
His three surviving children in 1912 were named as:
Olive Irene Burke, born December 10th 1892 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Hugh Burke, born 17th December 1894 in Hamilton, Ontarioa.
Marian Virginia/aka Viginia M. Burke, born 31st July 1900 in Norfolk, Virginia.
The 1920 Census reveals Olive's husband living with the family at North Broadway, James P. Mitchell, a salesman for a drugs company who'd been born in Tennessee in 1892. Virginia was missing. James died at some stage before the next census in 1930.
In June 1917, Hugh's son, named as Hugh Courtney Burke, a bookkeeper at the Holston Box Company, was drafted into the army in Knoxville. He survived, and went back to the Holston Box and Lumber Company, working alongside his father. The two lived together at 1338 North Broadway. The son, Hugh C. Burke, died in May 1978 at 37919 Knoxville.
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On Aprill 9th 1932, the above Hugh Burke departed Glasgow aboard the 'Anchor', heading for New York. He was a manufacturer aged 69, and his last address in the UK was given as 56, Rainey Street, which was the home of William John Burke and his family; William John was a close relation of Hugh Burke, although it's unclear as yet exactly how they relate accurately. I'm guessing that William John was Hugh's nephew, being the son of Hugh's brother, James Burke. Margaret Burke who married William Stewart in 1851 was most likely the sister of James and Hugh Burke, but I need to access the marriage details of Hugh Burke and Agnes Girvan in the Public Records Office in Dublin in order to clarify who Hugh Burke's father was.
William John Burke had been born in Co. Down in 1863 to James Burke and Eliza Stewart. James Burke was the son of John Burke, as was Margaret Stewart, née Burke, and possibly Hugh of Knoxville. James married Eliza Stewart in Ballycairn Presbyterian Church in Drumbo, Co. Down, on 19th January 1861 - James was a 27-yr-old weaver living at Leaverlogue, while Eliza Stewart, the daughter of a shoemaker named William Stewart, lived at Tullycarn, Lessan, which I presume is Ballylessan, Drumbo. Were William and Eliza related to William Stewart, son of Joseph Stewart, who married Margaret Burke in 1851? The witnesses to the wedding of James Burke and Eliza Stewart were Hugh Willis and John Russell.
The children of James Burke and Eliza Stewart were:
- William John Burke (of 56 Rainey Street later), born 1863.
- Mary Margaret Burke, 1864 - 1940, who married James McDowell in Drumbo Presbyterian Church on 13th November 1885; the witnesses were William John Burke and his soon-to-be wife, Emily Canning.
- Sarah Jane, born 1866.
- Eliza Jane, born 1870.
- Sara Annie, born 1877.
- Emily Cannon/Canning Burke, born 1883.
The oldest son of James Burke and Eliza Stewart, William John Burke, married the Scottish-born Emily Canning, the daughter of a tailor, Alexander Canning, in Drumbo Presbyterian Church on 3rd May 1885; the witnesses were James McAvoy and Margaret Crothers. (Of interest - the 1851 wedding of William Stewart and Margaret Burke in Downpatrick in 1851 was an Agnes Crothers. This may just be coincidence....)
William John Burke was a carpenter/packing case maker, just as Hugh G. Burke's first wife, Agnes Girvan, had been earlier.
In 1901 he was living at 56 Rainey Street, Belfast, with his Scottish-born wife, Emily Canning.
Their children were:
- James born 1890; he married Jane Ellen McCarthy on 4th February 1890 in St. Anne's Church of Ireland, Shankill, Belfast; James died 4th November 1965. Jane Ellen had been born on 21st June 1893 in Co. Down to Moses McCarthy and Margaret Brown.)
- Elizabeth born 1893 but who died before 1911.
- Jane born 1894.
- Ellen born 1897 but who died in 1906.
- Hugh Geddis Burke born 1900 - this last child was clearly named after Hugh Geddis Burke of Knoxville.
- William John Burke Junior, born 1902.
Street Directories:
1892: William JAMES Burke, carpenter, 56 Rainey Street. (Typo?)
1900: William J. Burke, carpenter, 56 Rainey St.
Many thanks to the Orr family, especially Astrid Booth, the granddaughter of William Stewart Orr, for sending me the photographs of their Orr/Stewart/Burke ancestors.