Burke, Finley Adam (1815-1889)

BURKE

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 11/18/2007 at 19:02:50

Finley Adam Burke
July 17, 1815 - June 3, 1889

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.12, Council Bluffs)
F. A. Burke, City Auditor, Council Bluffs, became a resident of Pottawattamie County as early as 1856. He first settled in that part of the county now known as Washington Township, and was the second settler there. He remained there for about three years and then came to Council Bluffs. He was filling the office of Justice of the Peace when he came to the town, Kane Township at that time embracing the territory of which Washington Township was a part. He removed to Council Bluffs in 1869, and continued to hold the office of Justice by re-election, until 1879. In 1869, he was also elected to the office of City Recorder, and was retained in that office by re-election by the Republican party until 1879. He was then out for one year, but was again elected to the same office, holding it until the spring of 1882, when the charter was abolished and teh Superior Court established, when he was elected City Auditor, which office he is now filling. During the war of the rebellion he was appointed Assistant United States Assessor, and held that office until 1869. His life, spent in Council Bluffs, has been such as to reflect only credit upon himself. He is a native of Washington County, Penn., where he was born July 17, 1815. For about ten years prior to his moving West he had resided in Wheeling, W. Va. In social circles he has taken quite an active part. He is a charter member of Twin Brother Encampmment, No. 42, I. O. O. F., and since the organization of the Odd Fellows Protective Association on December 5, 1870, he has been its President. His first marriage was to Miss Eliza J. Smith, a native of Fayette County, Penn. His two sons, William S. and Hugh M., were born of this marriage. They were both in the Federal army during the rebellion, the former holding the office of Lieutenant. William S. was also the first publisher of the Daily Nonpareil of Council Bluffs. He is now at Albuquerque, N. M., and Hugh M. is in San Francisco. Mr. Burke's second marriage was while he was a resident of Wheeling, W. Va., to Miss Margaret McMillen, who was also born in Pennsylvania. There are five sons and one daughter living who were born of this marriage. The elder sons have already distinguished themselves as members of the legal profession, and the younger bid fair to occupy an equally honorable position in the community.

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.446)
FINLEY ADAMS BURKE, deceased, was one of the most highly respected citizens of Council Bluffs. Coming to Pottawattamie County in 1856, when Western Iowa was sparsely settled, he became a prominent factor in the growth and development of both city and county. His father (who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) fought under General LEE, in the Virginia line in the war of the Revolution. His mother's maiden name was ADAMS, and her mother's was FINLEY. Both of these ladies were Scotch, and the family names were retained in naming the subject of this sketch.

Finley A. BURKE was born at Monongahela, July 17, 1815, and died at Council Bluffs, June 3, 1889. He spent his youth in attending school at the academy located at that time at Monongahela. In early manhood he became owner of boats plying the Ohio and other rivers and acted for years as steam-boat captain on the Ohio. In the latter capacity he visited Burlington, Iowa, by boat, as early as 1840. Quitting the river he was elected City Collector of the city of Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), which he resigned in 1856 to come to Iowa. He moved to Pottawattamie County in 1856, taking up lands in what is now Washington Township, and in 1860 he removed to Council Bluffs.

In 1869 he was elected to the office of City Recorder and Police Judge. To this office he was elected ten terms in succession, and after resting one year was re-elected for two more terms. By the abolition of the special charter of Council Bluffs, the office above mentioned was abolished, and under the general charter he was elected City Auditor, continuing as such until his election to the office of City Clerk and Clerk of the Superior Court, which office he held until March 1, 1889.

He joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows when a young man, and was very devoted to the order and its teachings during all his long residence in Council Bluffs. He was a charter member of the Twin Brothers Encampment of Odd Fellows and had received many high honors at the hands of that fraternity. He retained through life and still retains the respect and admiration of this large fraternity.

Mr. BURKE was twice married, the children by his first wife being: William S., Elizabeth J., Isabel and Hugh M. BURKE. Elizabeth J., Mrs. T. W. HARL, died at St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1888. Isabel, Mrs. W. P. WHITE, died at Kansas City, October 5, 1890. William S., now at Albuquerque, New Mexico, was the founder of the Council Bluffs Nonpareil, it being called the Chronotype, before he acquired it. Hugh M. is a well-known writer and editor at San Francisco, California. August 4, 1849, Judge BURKE was married to Margaret McMILLEN, who survives him. Their children are Mary E. (deceased); Emma E., the wife of J. F. BRODBECK, Esq.; Finley, Virginia (deceased), Edmund H., George A., John P. and Ambrose.

Judge BURKE was one of the most popular men in Council Bluffs. As a companion, he was sociable and agreeable, and few could equal him as a raconteur of humorous anecdotes or in making short speeches on social occasions. As a neighbor he was respected and beloved. As an officer he was industrious and correct, performing while City Recorder the combined duties now performed by City Auditor and City Clerk, besides judicial duties, and all this without deputy, where several are now employed. As a Judge, he was noted for fairness, honesty and common sense. His overwhelming majorities at elections were matters of comment, especially as he was often to be found hard at work at his office while his political opponents were out in the field at work. This is explained by the fact that all the electioneering done by him was done by rigid attention to duty the year around, and by his universal courtesy and kindness to all.

Indeed it was part of his nature to sympathize with his fellow men and to perform kindly acts of friendship for rich and poor alike, and his death was mourned by people of every rank and class.

In politics he was a Republican, but never allowed his party feeling to lead to personal animosities, and he commanded the continual respect and confidence of his fellow-townsmen of every party, it happening several times that his nomination was ratified by the Democrats and also by independent movements in addition to the Republican nomination. For over twenty years he lived in the eye of the public where every act of a man's life, both public and private, is open to inspection and criticism, and yet left to his family not an accumulation of riches, but, what is far more valuable, a name without a blemish or taint of dishonor.