Do you have any genealogical info about William "Billy" Burke the Clown? What little I know comes from the 1949 autobiography of his daughter, actress Billie Burke. She said he was born in 1844 in Knox County Ohio, studied to be a chemist but ran off to join the circus. He served in the Civil War and was wounded. I have the information about his marriage, Billie's birth, and his subsequent travels and death. I'm really interested in his parents. There are a couple of family stories which may link my BURKE/BOURKE ancestors to his, although they sound a little apocryphal to me. Regarding the O' prefix to any irish name: As contrasted with the prefix Mc or Mac which meant "son of", the O' indicated a more general tribal (sept) affiliation. I've never encountered any evidence that the O' was adopted or dropped within generations, only that the O' was permanently dropped by many families at the instigation of the British overlords during the 18th and 19th centuries. BURKE is an Anglo-Norman name, the older forms being deBurca and deBurgo. (deBurgo was a relative of William the Conqueror.) I assume some families gaelicized the "de" to O' along the line. Regards, Charles Sullivan At 08:25 PM 01/13/2001 -0500, Janis Burke wrote: >Pat and list members: > > Pat wrote: snip < Glad to see what appears to be more frequent postings on >the list! Let's get some activity going!>snip > >I couldn't agree with you more. I love to read about any Burke family >lines....each is so interesting and we all have some real characters in our >line. In researching our line, I found Billy Burke, (father of the actress >Billie Burke), was the famous clown with Sells Brothers Circus. The four >Sells Brothers were from Columbus, OH and founded the circus in 1872. I'm >interested in knowing if Billie Burke was Clammity Jane in Pawnee Bill's >Famous Original Wild >West Show. > > I found your story very delightful and very interesting. I married into >the Burke family 20 years ago and have only been researching this line for >about one year. I have a question that perhaps you or someone on this list >will be able to answer for me. You wrote: "The Burke family was known as >O'Bourke in Ireland." > >I read somewhere that the O' was added to the family name of the son, once >he was married. Then when his father passed away the son would drop the O'. >Does anyone know if this is true? > >Janis Burke >email: [email protected] >http://www.burkepi.com