Posted on: Burk, Burke, Birk ~ Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/surnames/bur/Burk/142 Surname: Burk, Fenerty, Fitzpatrick, Foerderer, Gill, Lee, Sullivan ------------------------- Hi Laurie! Nice to find your posting on the Web! Yes, I know of your Burk ancestors. My father is Henry Burk Sullivan, a descendent of Henry Burk, Sr. and Henry Burk, Jr., both of Philadelphia. As you may already know, the Burks came to the U.S. in 1854, through the port of Bremerhaven, having originated in Knittlingen, near Pforzheim, in the state of Baden-Wurtem., Germany. Charlotte Reiman (sp.?) was originally from Schorndorf, near Stuttgart, also in the state of Baden-Wurtem., Germany. My father, brother and I visited both villages in the mid- to late-1980s, and my father has a small handful of photos of the village of Knittlingen. While in Knittlingen, my father also obtained a written history of the place, which indicates that other Burk ancestors may have emigrated to the Economy, Pennsylvania area in the early 1800s as part of the so-called "Harmonist" or "Rappite" utopian movement . . . but we have not been able to substantiate that lead on this side of the Atlantic, despite having visited Economy (near Pittsburgh) briefly a few years back. Henry Burk, Sr., together with the Philadelphia industrialist, Robert Foerderer, acquired several patents which revolutionized the commercial tanning of leather, making them millions before the turn of the century. Beginning in c.1900, Henry Burk and Robert Foerderer, who were both native Germans, served concurrently as U.S. Congressmen from Philadelphia and, ironically, died on the same day while still serving in office. The large Henry Burk Brothers leather factory used to sit near 2d & American in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia, but was razed a few years ago, making way for a park where locals now grow vegetables. The Louis Burk meat factory was about one mile away on Girard Avenue, and it was famous for its Philadelphia scrapple and hot dogs (in fact, as you may know, for many Philadelphians during the 1920s/1930s, the Burk name and the hot dog were nearly synonymous). My father (who is about 70 years old) has more information and some photos relating to the Burks and their relatives/ancestors. I asked him if your name rang a bell, and it did not . . . but who knows, he may in fact know you . . . he's not particularly good with names. Please feel free to call me evenings at my home in Haddonfield, NJ (856-429-7225) or daytime at my offices in Philadelphia, PA (215-981-7640), and I'll put you in touch with my father, since he is the closest thing to a Burk genealogist in our immediate family. We look forward to hearing from you. John Sullivan By the way, some of the information on your web site is of interest to us. For example, we had thought that David Burk was buried in Broomall and, in fact, the caretaker at the cemetery in Broomall provided us with (dubious) cemetery research to that effect . . . but there was no gravestone marking his supposed grave. So, I strongly suspect that your burial information may be more accurate . ==== BURK Mailing List ==== Surname Resource Webpages: http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/b/u/BURK/ http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/b/u/BURKS/ http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/b/u/BURKE/ http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/b/u/BURKEY/ http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/b/o/BOURKE/ ========================================================