Os Burke - Esclarecimentos

The Family Burke in Brasil - 1919-2006

Clarificacions

Blazon

The Saga

ABOUT THIS BOOKLET

The idea of writing a booklet about the first Burkes in Brazil came to the mind of Thomas J. Burke in Florianópolis – (Capital of the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil) right after his return from Londrina (Second largest city of the State of Paraná). He had just spent Christmas and New Year 2002-2003 festivities with his brother Edward and his sons, grandsons, great-grandsons and some other close relatives.

Remembering the joyful chats, in which the subject frequently ended up going to the “nostalgia time”, Thomas started to wonder about the great interest that some of the young Burkes showed about their origin and how enchanted they were with some of the curiosities and “little tales” that the two old brothers told them. It suddenly occurred to him that once the three surviving “original” Brazilian Burkes had died, all that was known about the story of the beginning of the family would end up in quite a short time being lost forever ¾ literally no one would be left to tell the story…. In the future everyone that carried the name Burke, or had some family connection with one of tem, probably wouldn’t know what to say about the origin of such an uncommon name, except, maybe, that it came “from a North-American called Burke that immigrated to Brazil many year ago”. Then it came to Tom's mind that maybe there was still a little time left to save some of that past, if only the surviving siblings of the founder couple of the Burke family in Brazil would write a bit about it.

Thomas then decided to send an e-mail to his sister Henrietta and here daughter Mary, and to his brother Edward, telling them about his worries and asking them what they thought of the idea of helping him write about the initial times of the Burke Family. Tom offered to “mount” the document if they would help him gather the necessary information. The reaction was immediate, favorable and enthusiastic. The drafts would be examined by Edward, Henrietta and mary before “publishing”, and the same for the final job. It was decided that the history of the Burke family in Brazil would be restricted to the facts more directly related to the couple John Ulic Burke & Emma Anna Roggemann and their seven Brazilian children, otherwise the history would never have an end… For the other members of the “great family” the information would be limited to the “formals”. It was also decided that the various chapters would be illustrated with some photos that would “tell more than a thousand words” about significant events of the history of the Burkes in Brazil. The final product of the joint effort is this booklet. It’s their legacy to the “Burkes” ¾ to the ones that are still around and to the ones that certainly will come in the future.

The booklet begins with a list of Persons Mentioned, with a remissive index. Next comes part I - THE BURKE’S SAGA ¾ five chapters that tell about the main fazes of the Burke family in Brazil, beginning with some information about its roots in other parts of the world. In each chapter were included some of those “curiosities and small tales” that have such an interest for those that didn’t experience them personally. Part II – THE BURKE FAMILY IN RESUME, with chapters 7, 8 and 9, gives a broader more systematic and formal view of the persons included in the family tree, followed by brief biographies of the founders and of the seven first Brazilian Burkes. This part ends with a collection of photos showing four different moments of the lives of each of the seven first Brazilian Burkes. Part III – RELICS (chaps. 10 and 11) has some photos of objects, jewels , documents and other pieces that belonged to John and Emma, founders of the Burke family in Brazil, that are kept as real precious relics by their descendants. This part ends with another small collection of photos that illustrate the history of the first Burkes in Brazil, and that "say more than one thousand words".

An APPENDIX was added to the booklet containing: A - Additional information about the more remote history of Ireland, the country where the Burkes, that now are scattered around various parts of the world had their first origin; B –Some detailed information about Companhia de Cimento Perus and Estrada de Ferro Perus-Pirapora, too companies that had a very special importance in the lives of the first Brazilian Burkes; C – A note about the notorious outlaw “Lampião”, who João F. Passos (husband of Henrietta Burke) helped chase in the North-East badlands of Brazil; D – Some comments about “family names” (“the Burkes”, for example), written by Thomas J. Burke.

On writing the booklet, Thomas, Henrietta and Edward received help from Mary Burke Passos and James J. Waechtler (a Roggemann/Burke descendant from Canada who did some research on the more remote origins of the Burkes and Roggemanns). Pedro Paulo Burke furnished some additional information about his father’s life. John U. Burke (Johnny), Edward Burke Jr. (Edinho) and Carlos Jorge Burke (Carlinhos) furnished some of the photos (see below a list of other sources). The booklet was originally written and “published” in Portuguese and later freely translated into the present English version by Thomas, under the “supervision” of Henrietta and Mary.

It is quite possible that this booklet doesn’t pay entire justice to all the persons involved, but such is due to the fact that it’s a selection and synthesis made by only three of the members of the original family, the Brazilian Burkes that lived for a longer period of time in direct contact with the too pioneers founders. It is also possible that despite of the care taken by Thomas to avoid it, the booklet ended up marked by his personal stile and his views on the facts, for which he asks forgiveness.

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Other Sources:

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/a/e/James-J-Waechtler

http://indigo.ie/~wildgees/burkes.htm

http://www.roggemann-burke.com/

Irish Roots Magazine, Surnames of County Galway, in Issue 1, 1994.

www.ancestrees.com/pedigree/2554.htm

www.ancestrees.com/pedigree/4583.htm

www.ancestrees.com/pedigree/surnames.htm

www.angelfire.com/my/tray/Page-3.htm

www.araltas.com/features/burke/

www.bbgreenway.org/clans/2burke.htm