Merced County Biographies
Ref: Pages 860-861
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 7/29/2009
HENRY F. BURKE
From early youth to the present day, Henry F. Burke, who has the agency of the Paige and Jewett cars at Merced, has always been interested in and operating some sort of instrument or appliance for locomotion. The son of Henry F. and Frances (Bittell) Burke, he was born in Cleveland, Ohio, February 11, 1881, and attended the local public school until he was thirteen years of age, when he became a jockey for two years. He then served an apprenticeship as a machinist for three years, after which he went into the bicycle business, all in Cleveland. As an amateur rider he won two prizes, riding to Geneva and return, but when he sold these prizes he was rated as a professional, which he practiced for three years in connection with the bicycle business. He won a number of century medals for riding 100 miles a day. In 1889 he was engaged in working on the first Winton car built. After that he was in the Buick and the Packard factories, and in the Kissel factory in Wisconsin two years. Through the succeeding years he worked in various States, North and South. For a year and a half he was in business in Louisiana, and then went to Texas. From there he came to California and in 1920 located in Merced. He worked on a salary for a time and then engaged in business for himself. He started in a modest way on October 20, 1921, and now employs five men in his present location at 345 Seventeenth Street, with the agency of the Paige and Jewett cars.
Mr. Burke was united in marriage with Miss Emma Nelson, of Louisiana, who shares with him the high regard of many friends. Mr. Burke is not tied to any party; he votes for the men and measures which seem to be for the best interest to the greatest number. He is a member of the Moose fraternity. He is fond of outdoor life and motoring, and made the record from Merced to Yosemite Valley on June 1, 1923, driving in a blinding storm, in three hours and twenty-six minutes. Highly respected and public-spirited, he has won a place in the foremost ranks of representative citizens.
History of
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925
Merced County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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