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