Charles Henry Burke Biography


	This biography appears on pages 160-166 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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			HON. CHARLES HENRY BURKE.  

	Hon. Charles Henry Burke, who as a member of the fifty-sixth, 
fifty-seventh, fifty-eighth, fifty-ninth, sixty-first, sixty-second and 
sixty-third congresses represented South Dakota in the national house 
of representatives for fourteen years, makes his home in Pierre, where 
he will later engage in active business. The Burke family of which he 
is a representative is of Norman origin and with the Butlers and 
Fitzgeralds is ranked with the most distinguished of tile Norman Irish. 
The ancestor of the Irish Burkes was William Fitz-Aldelm-de-Burgo, who 
accompanied King Henry II to Ireland as his steward in 1171 A. D. The 
family was related by the ties of blood to that of William the 
Conqueror. Two of them, Robert de Burgo and his brother William, were 
with the Norman conqueror at the invasion of England, and the former 
was afterward created Earl of Cornwall. In the reign of King John the 
Burkes obtained large possessions in Connaught through rivalry and 
quarrels with the O'Connors. Becoming powerful, they subsequently 
renounced their allegiance to the kings of England and adopted the 
Irish language, dress and customs and compelled all other families of 
Norman origin in Connaught to do likewise. Two of them became Irish 
chiefs and settled in what is now embraced in the present County Mayo. 
Other branches settled in Limerick, Clare and Tipperary. Many members 
of the family attained distinction in military achieve meets, while 
others won fame along literary lines. Edmund Burke, "one of the 
greatest sons of men," was of this family. John Burke, the celebrated 
genealogist who established "Burke's Peerage," was also of this family 
Thomas Burke, of Revolutionary war fame as a writer and patriot, was a 
native of Galway, Ireland, and became governor of North Carolina. 
Robert O'Hara Burke, the celebrated Australian explorer, was a native 
of Galway and also of this family. Joseph Burke, an uncle of Charles 
Henry Burke, acquired renown both in Europe and America as an actor and 
violinist and almost in his infancy was a histrionic and musical 
prodigy. He played in Great Britain and the United States before 
immense audiences, his ability being accounted the most astounding 
instance of precocious talent the musical world has ever known. 
Constant study and practice continually developed his talent and his 
standing as an artist is indicated in the fact that he was chosen to 
accompany Jenny Lind on her tour of the United States in 1850 in the 
role of violinist. He afterward became her treasurer and private 
secretary as well as her musical director. He was born in Galway, 
Ireland, in 1817, and died in Batavia, New York, in 1902.  

	Dr. Miles Burke, the grandfather of Charles H. Burke and a native 
of Galway, Ireland, was a physician and surgeon of wide repute who was 
graduated from a famous school of surgery of London, England, in 1809 
and afterward practiced in Ireland for a number of years. He emigrated 
to America in 1830, taking up his abode in New York city, where he 
resided for a number of years. Subsequently he removed to Troy, New 
York, and finally to Canada, near Niagara Falls, where his demise 
occurred in 1845.  

	Walter Burke, his son and the father of Charles H. Burke, was 
also a native of County Galway, born November 10, 1820. He came to 
America in 1830 with his father. Following the death of his father he 
located, in 1846, in Genesee county, New York, purchasing and settling 
upon Summerville Farm, where he continued to live and carry on 
agricultural pursuits the remainder of his life, passing away in 1911 
at the venerable age of ninety-one years. He was married in 1856 to 
Miss Sarah T. Beckwith, who was born in Connecticut, October 17, 1828. 
While Mr. Burke is a representative of an old and noted Irish family on 
the paternal side, his ancestral record in the maternal line is traced 
back through the history of one of the prominent old New England 
families. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Burke was Nathan Tinker, a 
Revolutionary soldier and pensioner, and her father, Josiah Beckwith, 
was a soldier in the War of 1812. Mrs. Burke, the mother of Charles H. 
Burke, was a school teacher in her younger days, being a lady of 
liberal education and wide culture. She died in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. 
Walter Burke became the parents of five children who lived to maturity, 
as follows: Catherine Elizabeth, who is the wife of C. J. Harris, of 
Genesee county, New York; Joseph W., residing on Summerville Farm, the 
old homestead in Genesee county, New York; Charles Henry, of this 
review; Lulu J., who is the wife of John G. Torrance, of Batavia, New 
York; alla Grace, a resident of Batavia, New York.  

	Charles Henry Burke was born on Summerville Farm April 1, 1861, 
and there his boyhood days were passed, his early education being 
acquired in the rural schools of the neighborhood. At one period in his 
life he drove five miles to and from school each day while doing the 
ordinary farm chores morning and evening. During the summer seasons he 
worked as other farm boys usually do, assisting more and more largely 
in the labors of the fields as his years increased until he was making 
a full "hand" upon the place. When he was still in his teens he secured 
a teacher's certificate and taught for four months in the year, 
covering the winter season, while the remainder of his time was devoted 
to active farm work. Immediately after attaining his majority, on the 
6th of May, 1882, he started for the west with capital only sufficient 
to take him to his destination - Moorhead, Minnesota. There he secured 
employment at the carpenter's trade in the midst of a building boom. He 
faced life with courage and determination and each day saw him farther 
advanced because of the good use he made of his time and opportunities 
and the lessons which he learned from experience. In the summer of the 
same year he joined a former New York friend of about his own age in a 
mercantile venture at Broadland, Beadle county, South Dakota, and at 
the same time homesteaded. After a year he removed to Blunt, Hughes 
county, and in 1887 he became a resident of Pierre, where he has since 
made his home. When he took up his abode at Blunt in the spring of 1883 
he entered into partnership with Caldwell & Smith, of Huron, in the 
land and real-estate business and while negotiating property transfers 
he devoted the hours which are usually termed leisure to the study of 
law and was admitted to the bar in 1886. He then entered upon active 
practice, which he followed in connection with the conduct of his real 
estate business at Blunt until September, 1887, when he removed to 
Pierre and entered the employ of the Security Mortgage & Investment 
Company, in which connection advancement brought him to the position of 
manager. He continued in that capacity until he closed up the company's 
business and subsequently he became a member of the law firm of Burke & 
Goodner of Pierre, which connection was dissolved when Mr. Burke was 
elected to congress.  

	Previous to his congressional experience, however, he took an 
active part in local and state affairs. In 1890 he was secretary of the 
Pierre capital committee, in which capacity he devoted eight months 
almost exclusively to campaign work, his labors proving most effective 
and winning him high appreciation. From the beginning of his public 
service he has been very forceful in political circles and in 1894 was 
elected on the republican ticket to the state legislature, in which he 
served for two terms. His ability as a lawmaker was quickly recognized, 
for his course showed that he readily grasped the various phases of the 
different questions which came up for settlement and that in all of his 
legislative work he was actuated by a desire to further the public 
good.  

	Accordingly in 1898, appreciative of his worth in the general 
assembly, Mr. Burke was nominated by the republicans as a candidate for 
one of two congressmen at large and elected in November of the same 
year. During his first term in congress his course met the highest 
expectations of his constituents so well that in the three succeeding 
nominating conventions, in 1900, 1902 and 1904, he was nominated by 
acclamation and elected in each succeeding election. In 1906 he was 
defeated in convention but was again nominated in June, 1908, in a 
statewide primary and elected to the sixty-first congress, and 
reelected to the sixty second and sixty-third congresses. Mr. Burke's 
congressional career is one which reflects honor and credit upon the 
state which honored him, his service being most useful to his district, 
to his commonwealth and to the nation. During the sixty-first congress 
he was chairman of the important committee on Indian affairs, 
succeeding Vice President Sherman in that capacity, and during the 
sixty-second and sixty-third congresses he was the ranking minority 
member of that committee. He was also a member of the committee on 
interstate and foreign commerce in the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth 
congresses, which committee had charge of the famous Hepburn rate bill. 
During the sixty-third congress he was the "republican whip," an 
indication of his standing among his colleagues. During the sixty-first 
congress he was chairman of the special committee that investigated the 
Gore charges in Oklahoma and he was a member during the sixty-third 
congress of the joint Indian commission from the house and senate, of 
which Senator Robinson was chairman, this commission having full 
investigating powers on all general Indian affairs. At the same time he 
was a member of the special commission to investigate and report on the 
Yakima Indian reservation irrigation project of Washington and the New 
Mexico Indian tubercular sanitarium, of which subject the commission 
made an exhaustive study and reported fully to congress. In 1913 Mr. 
Burke announced his retirement to private life, owing to three severe 
surgical operations which he had undergone. In January, 1914, in spite 
of Mr. Burke's firm opposition and without his sanction, his friends 
proposed him as a republican nominee for United States senatorial 
honors as the opponent of Senator Crawford, a representative of another 
faction of the republican party. Mr. Burke was nominated over Crawford 
in the primaries, carrying forty-one of the sixty-one counties, but was 
defeated at the general election of November, 1914, by the democratic 
candidate, Ed S. Johnson of Yankton.  

	On the 14th of January, 1886, Mr. Burke was united in marriage to 
Miss Caroline Schlosser, a native of Lodi, Wisconsin, by whom he has 
four children, as follows: Grace, who is the wife of Milton P. Goodner, 
of Seattle, Washington; Elizabeth, at home; Walter H., a resident of 
Chicago; and Josephine L., who was born in Washington, D. C., and is 
also at home.  

	Mr. Burke is now living retired temporarily save for the 
supervision which he gives to his personal property interests and 
investments. He is a director of the Pierre National Bank but otherwise 
is not before the public in any business connection. During territorial 
days he was a member of the militia of South Dakota. Fraternally he is 
identified with the following organizations: Pierre Lodge, No. 27, A. 
F. & A. M.; Pierre Chapter, No. 22, R. A. M.; Pierre Commandery, No. 
21, K. T.; the Ancient Order of United Workmen; and the Benevolent 
Protective Order of Elks. The religious faith of Mr. Burke is that of 
the Episcopal church. He holds membership in Trinity church at Pierre, 
in which he is serving as vestryman and treasurer. He is most popular 
among his fellow townsmen and the sterling traits of his character are 
indicated by the fact that he is most highly esteemed where best known.  

	It would be an incomplete and unsatisfactory record of Charles H. 
Burke if there was no mention made of the opinions which have been 
expressed concerning him by his colleagues in public life, for it has 
been through his congressional service that he has become best known to 
the country. When it was known that he would retire from congress, in 
March, 1907, Hon. William P. Hepburn of Iowa, chairman of the committee 
on interstate and foreign commerce, appointed from that committee a 
committee which made the following report: "That the committee on 
interstate and foreign commerce, upon which the Honorable Charles H. 
Burke has served for two congresses, hereby express its sincere regrets 
that our colleague will no longer be a member of the house after March 
4th next, and that his membership on this committee will end. It is the 
unanimous opinion of this committee, made known in regular committee 
meeting, at which every member was present, that by the retirement of 
Mr. Burke from the house this committee loses an able and most 
efficient and faithful representative, one who at all times has devoted 
his time, ability and attention to the public business, and by his 
courtesy, kindness, and gentlemanly bearing, has endeared himself to 
all who knew him. but more particularly to the members of this 
committee."  On the same occasion Mr. Hepburn said: "Your comrades on 
the committee are not willing that this connection should be terminated 
without many an expression as to their regrets, and they have deputed 
me to strive to express to you, in part, their feelings. You have been 
a member of the committee for many years. Your industry, your 
punctuality, the interest you have always shown when on the duties with 
which it has been charged, and the high order of ability you have 
brought to bear upon all questions it has considered, have marked you 
as one of its most valued members. These qualities could not have been 
exhibited as they have without doing something more than winning our 
respect. They call for our admiration, in largest measure our 
confidence. As a slight mark of our high appreciation of your personal 
and valued qualities, the committee have procured this service which I 
am directed to present to you as coming from all the members. It is an 
expression of affection and admiration for your splendid virtues of 
courage, fortitude, intelligence, and gentleness, which are marked 
essentials in your character, and in part the qualities that make us 
love you. In this parting our regrets are very many and lasting, but 
wherever you go you may be assured that you carry with you our best and 
kindliest wishes for your well-being-that the future may have in store 
for you only the choicest of blessings."  

	James R. Mann, in his characteristic and vigorous way, spoke of 
Mr. Burke as follows: "We know him to be great. He has made good on 
this committee, he has made good as a public servant. Men come and go 
in public life; they appear and disappear from the halls of congress. 
The world goes on much the same, but I venture to believe that few men 
have made so great an impression in the present house of 
representatives during his term of serve ice as has Charles H. Burke. 
He has established himself in the absolute confidence of this 
committee, which, in my opinion, is the greatest committee in the 
house. Our committee deals with more subjects covering a greater 
variety in interests than any other committee of congress. It takes 
hard work and long experience to become of the greatest value in this 
committee. By his assiduous devotion to his public work, by his 
conscientious efforts to study the work coming before our committee, 
Mr. Burke has made himself so valuable to us that we who remain will 
miss him more than we can tell."  

	"I have had peculiar opportunity to learn of Congressman Burke's 
personal qualities," said Congressman Esch of Wisconsin. "I have been 
impressed with his industry, his good judgment, his attention to duty 
and his high ideals."  With genuine warmth, Congressman Townsend, of 
Michigan, spoke in part as follows: "I have learned to respect and 
admire Mr. Burke for his modest, earnest and effectual work on this 
committee. He is differently constituted from myself, and I have 
profited by his example. I have known him outside of this committee 
room. It is said that one must 'summer and winter with a man' in order 
to know him well. Since I came to Washington I have lived at the same 
hotel with our colleague and in his modest, unassuming manner there, 
the same as here, he won his way into the hearts of all. I trust and 
believe that the same qualities of heart and head which have made his 
congressional life so great a success, will enable him to render even 
greater service to his state and this during what I hope will be the 
many years to come."  

	One of Mr. Burke's democratic colleagues in congress, Mr. Adamson 
of Georgia, said: "In my association with Charles H. Burke here as man, 
member of committee and congressman, I have admired in him the highest 
merit, exercised with the most beautiful modesty. Patient, industrious 
and wise, polite and considerate of his opponents, vigilant with 
adversaries, he stands a splendid example of a great, useful 
congressman. His sincere and genial disposition, constantly doing 
kindnesses, make all love him. He gives the most complete exhibition of 
generous unselfishness I have ever observed in the conduct of any man. 
He never loses his temper. He uses intellect in transacting business.. 
He analyzes the issue with his mind and is convinced by his reason. He 
will rank with the greatest and with the best and brightest who have 
served mankind in these halls."  

	At the conclusion of the consideration of the Indian 
appropriation bill in the house of representatives on January 9, 1915 
(See Cong. Rec., p. 1364), the chairman of the committee, Mr. Stephens, 
yielded to the republican leader, Mr. Mann of Illinois, who said:  

	"Mr. Speaker, I think it is quite appropriate for me to say a 
word, under the circumstances, conveying at least the best wishes of 
the House to those members of the Committee on Indian Affairs who will 
not be with us in the next House.  

	"There are eight of them who go off the committee. On this side 
of the House two of the oldest members in point of service upon the 
committee will retire. Two of the ablest Members on this side of the 
House will go out of the House and off the Committee on Indian Affairs. 
The gentleman from South Dakota (MR. BURKE) has shown that he is one of 
the most capable men who ever sat in this Hall and one of the men who 
had the most intimate knowledge of the intricacies of Indian affairs. 
While we on this side of the House had hoped still to have his services 
in another body, we sincerely regret that we are to part with his 
services. Mr. Burke, in my opinion, has at different times, both as 
chairman and as member of the Committee on Indian Affairs, saved to 
this Government and to the Indians many mile lions of dollars, and we 
could well have afforded, so far as money considerations are concerned, 
to have paid him a pension for life in order that he might give us his 
knowledge and his sound judgment of Indian affairs.  

	"I say the same kind words to the gentleman from Oklahoma (MR. 
McGUIRE), and I extend the best wishes of this side of the House to the 
Members on the other side of the House who are going off this great 
Committee on Indian Affairs, where more service is rendered that is not 
of a personal interest to Members, probably, than on any other 
committee of the House." ( APPLAUSE. )