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JOHN J. BURKE
Vol. 3, p. 1319-1320

The thriving little City of Norman judicial center of Cleveland
county, occupies a place of more than usual prominence and importance
by reason of its being the seat of the admirable University of
Oklahoma as well as a vigorous and progressive municipality. Its
prestige and interests are most effectively represented and exploited
by the Norman Transcript, of which Mr. Burke is editor and publisher
and which he has brought up to high standard as one of the excellent
newspapers of the state. He is one of the pioneer newspaper men of
Oklahoma and has been earnest and appreciative in his efforts toward
furthering the civic and material development and up-building of the
commonwealth in which he established his residence in 1889, the year
which marked the original opening of Oklahoma Territory to settlement.

Mr. Burke was born in the City of Ayr, the capital of Ayrshire,
Scotland, on the 23rd of November, 1855, and within a few weeks
thereafter his parents immigrated to the United States, so that he is
thoroughly American in spirit and appreciation, though honoring the
sturdy land of his birth. He is a son of Rev. John and Jane (JEFFREY)
Burke, the former of whom was born at Carlisle, Cumberlandshire,
England, in 1814, and the latter of whom was born at Ayr, Scotland,
in 1819. Rev. John Burke was reared and educated in England and after
his marriage he continued his earnest and zealous services as a
clergyman of the Baptist Church in Scotland until 1855, when he came
with his family to the United States, where he served long and
faithfully in the ministry, his labors as a clergyman having been
prosecuted in turn in the states of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and
Ohio. When the Civil war was precipitated he showed his loyalty to
the Union by accepting the office of chaplain of the Eighty-second
Ohio volunteer Infantry, with which he served in this capacity during
practically the entire period of the great conflict. His political
allegiance was given to the republican party and he was affiliated
with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
This venerable and honored clergyman died at Hubbard, Trumbull
County, Ohio, in 1900, and his widow passed the closing period of her
life at Altoona, Pennsylvania, where she was summoned to eternal rest
in 1905. Of their children the eldest is Catherine, who is the wife
of John W. EBERT, a representative citizen of Altoona, Pennsylvania;
John J., of this review, was the next in order of birth' Jennie
became the wife of Robert H. DUER and both died at Hubbard, Ohio;
Florence is the wife of John. M. LEACH, who is a representative
lawyer of Indiana, Pennsylvania; May is the wife of Robert M.
JOHNSON, who is engaged in the lumber business at Kansas City,
Missouri.

In the public schools of the old Keystone State John J. Burke
continued his studies until he had completed the curriculum of the
high school, and in 1873 he was there graduated in Logan Academy,
near the City of Altoona. For five years thereafter he was a
successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Pennsylvania,
and in 1878 he came to the West and established his residence at
Garnett, Kansas, where he gained intimate knowledge of the various
details of the printing and newspaper business by means of his active
association with the Garnett Journal, a weekly paper. Finally he
established the Colony Free Press, at Colony, Anderson County,
Kansas, and of this paper he continued the editor and publisher eight
years. He then, in 1889, participated in the opening of Oklahoma
Territory to settlement and became one of the pioneer settlers in
Oklahoma City, the present thriving capital city of the state. In
June of that year he assumed the active management of the Oklahoma
City Times-Journal, with which he was thus connected until 1895,
after which he served as editor of the Oklahoman until 1897, having
done much to bring this representative paper into prominence and
influence as a representative of the varied interests of the
territory.

In the fall of 1897 Mr. Burke removed to Norman, where he assumed
charge of the Norman Transcript, of which he still continued to be
editor and publisher. This staunch and influential paper was founded
May 1, 1889, but its first issue was published at Purcell, McClain
County, on the 22nd of the preceding month. The Transcript is a vital
exponent of the interests of this section of the state and also of
the principles and policies of the republican party, its circulation
being exceptional large and extending through Cleveland, McClain and
neighboring counties. It is the only republican paper in Cleveland
County and Mr. Burke has been its sole proprietor since the spring of
1898.

Mr. Burke has been one of the most prominent and influential
representatives of the republican party in Cleveland County, and in
addition to having served one year as clerk of the District County he
was for twelve years the incumbent of the office of postmaster of
Norma, his original appointment having been made by President
Roosevelt and reappointment having been made under the administration
of President Taft.

Mr. Burke is an appreciative and valued member of the Oklahoma State
Press Association, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with
Norman Lodge, No. 38, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. He and his wife
are active members of the local Christian Science Church and he is
president of its board of trustees.

At Garnett, Kansas, in the year 1882, was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Burke to Miss Clara J. HIATT, whose father, John G. Hiatt, is now
a retired merchant of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Burke have one son,
Edmund H., who was graduated in the Norman High School and who is now
serving as assistant postmaster of this city.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Charmaine Keith, October 11, 1998.