Lewis V. Burke Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1272-1273 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				LEWIS V. BURKE. 

	Lewis V. Burke is the well known and popular cashier of the Home National 
Bank of Dell Rapids, South Dakota, of which institution he was one of the 
organizers and of which he is a director. His birth occurred in Mason City, 
Iowa, on the 6th of September, 1880, his parents being Peter J. and Martha 
(Moffett) Burke, the former a native of Canada and the latter of Washington, 
Pennsylvania. Their marriage was celebrated in Harpers Ferry, Iowa, to which 
place they had been taken as children by their respective parents in the pioneer 
period of the history of that state. About two years after their marriage they 
took up their abode on a farm adjoining Mason City, Iowa, and continued to 
reside thereon for about twenty-three years. In 1898 they came to South Dakota 
and purchased a farm within about four miles of Dell Rapids, residing there six 
years. On the expiration of that period their son Lewis went to Valparaiso, 
Indiana, to attend the university there, and the parents left the farm and took 
up their abode in Dell Rapids, where they have since made their home. 

	Lewis V. Burke attended the graded and high schools of Plymouth, Iowa, and 
subsequently pursued a course in engineering at Valparaiso University, 
completing his work with the class of 1906. He then went to Chicago and secured 
a position in the engineering department of the Illinois Central Railway, where 
he was employed until December, 1907, when the financial panic caused the 
suspension of construction work on the Illinois system. Mr. Burke then accepted 
a position in the First National Bank at Colman, South Dakota, and was 
identified with that institution until March, 1909, when the bank changed hands 
and he severed his connection therewith. He returned to Dell Rapids, and 
associated himself with his father and brothers in the conduct of a hardware 
enterprise under the firm style of P. J. Burke & Sons. In June, 1911, the 
business was sold and Mr. Burke entered the Home National Bank as assistant 
cashier, of which institution he had been one of the organizers. In February, 
1914, following the death of Cashier E. R. Kenefick, Mr. Burke was made cashier 
of the bank, manifesting his fitness for the responsible position in many ways 
that redound to the benefit of the institution and its depositors. 

	Mr. Burke has five sisters and two brothers: Marguerite, living at home 
with her parents; Gertrude Burke Kenefick, widow of the late E. R. Kenefick of 
Dell Rapids; Mae Burke Gallagher, of Mason City, Iowa; Elizabeth, who has become 
Sister Loretta of St. Vincents Hospital, Sioux City, Iowa; Kathryn, the late 
Sister Scholastica of St. Vincents Hospital; Arthur, of Dell Rapids; and Alonzo, 
of Sioux City, Iowa. 

	On June 30th, 1915, Mr. Burke was united in marriage to Miss Ethel 
Fitzpatrick, daughter of the late S. J. Fitzpatrick and Anne Brady Fitzpatrick 
of 4905 Vincennes Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Fitzpatrick was associated with 
one of the large steel construction companies of Chicago and Mr. Burke became 
acquainted with him while he was erecting a steel structure for the Illinois 
Central Railroad Company. Mr. Fitzpatrick did a great deal of steel construction 
work throughout the United States and Canada, among which may be noted the 
completion of the Masonic Temple, Chicago, the erection of a number of bascule 
and swing bridges on the Chicago river and the construction of the Butterfly Dam 
at Lockport, Illinois. This dam is a wonderful engineering feat. By it the 
mighty waters of Lake Michigan are controlled. 

	Mr. Burke is a member of the Knights of Columbus, a member of the Dell 
Rapids Commercial Club, a stockholder of the new hospital of Dell Rapids and a 
young man who is always foremost in any movement tending to advance the best 
interests of the community.