1 James BURKE (aka Séamus de Búrca) b.1771 (Skibbereen, Ireland); 
  Occ. Farmer; Horsetrader; d.1847 (Inchigeelah, Ireland) 


Gravestone of 
Séamus &  Máire

Mary O'LEARY 
Mháire Bhuí Ní Laoire

 +  Mary O'LEARY - aka Maura Bwee or Máire (Mháire) Bhuí Ní Laoire or Laoghaire)
   b.1774 (Tooreennanean = Túirín na nÉan near Inchigeelah, Co. Cork); 
   Five brothers and two sisters; m~1792; d.1849 (Inchigeelah); Oral Poet.  
   [dau of Diarmuid (Dermot / Jeremiah) Bhuí (Bwee) O'Laoire b.1751 and 
    Siobhán (Johanna/Johana), unkown surname, b.1751 [959]]
   Eloped with Seamus at age 18 to Skibbereen, m.1792.
   Seamus and Mary settled on a holding they purchased near Keimaneigh ((Chéim an Fhia),
   living in some prosperity [960] but known for their generous hospitality [959],
   A crossing on the River Lee, near where they lived became known as "The Ford of the Burkes".
   The Burkes went on to buy "all the Inches", but mounting debts and their arrest for membership of a secret 
   agrarian organisation (Rockite) led to their eviction in 1847 when they were no longer able to pay their rent. 
   A crossing of the River Lee near their land was known as the Ford of the Burkes [959].
   Mary was illiterate, but her poems and songs were orally transmitted and survive in the folklore of her locality. She became one of Munster's 
   most celebrated Irish-language folk poets of the 19th century. [958]. See Comment 1
   Mary's best-known poem is 'Cath Chéim an Fhia', a graphic account of an affray between the "Whiteboys" and the local battalion of yeomanry. 
  2 Nine children [959], all born in Inse Mór included: 
    Seán  b.1793 (see below); Séamus (James, known as Jimmy) b.1794 (m.Gobnait); 
    Micháel b.1796 (m. Neil=Ellen O'Sullivan); Risteárd (Richard) b.1798 (m. Johanna Callaghan); 
    Elick (Alex/Alec) b.1804 (m. Mary Callaghan); Ellen (Neil) b.1806 m.Conor Hallissey); Pádraig (Patrick) b.1808; 
    Máire (Mary) b.1813 (m.Tadhg Murphy) and Joanna (Siobhán/Joan/Hannah) b.1815 (m. Domhall Burke) 
  2 Seán (John) BURKE b.1793 (Macroom); who was probably one of the Whiteboys  hanged after the 1822 "Battle of Keimaneigh". 
    Two of Mary's poems Tuireamh Sheáin de Búrc ("Lament for John Burke") and Caoineadh Sheáin de Búrc ("The Keening of John Burke") were 
    variations on a lament for Seán/John [959].
   +  Nóra Ni Chróinin (Honna CRONIN) b.1800 (Gorinakilla/Gurteenacurra); m.1818
    3 Also nine children: Michael b.1819; Richard b.1819; James b.1822 (see below); Mary b.1825; Alexander (Alec) b.1827; Ellen b.1829; 
      Bridget b.1833; Nora b.1835 and Cornelius (Conor) b.1838 [949].
    3 James (Séamus) BURKE b.25Mar1822 (Inchigeelah)
      Possibly the 35yr old James Burke (Labourer) arriving 1856 Wellington on the Mimmie Dike" 
      having left Melbourne 22Dec1856. [122]
     + Julia COTTER b.1817 (Inchigeelah)
       dau of Sylvester COTTER & Narry MURPHY
      4 Margaret BURKE d.1930 (Melbourne, Australia)
       + Michael O'BRIEN m. Melbourne
      4 Mary BURKE b. (Macroom)
       + Robert WISEMAN
        5 Nora Mary WISEMAN b.1889 (Macroom); d.8Dec1960 (Palmerston North, NZ)
         + William David MAXEY b.1891 (not NZ); m.10Nov1920 (Napier, NZ); d.12Mar1962

      4 James S BURKE b.1847 (Macroom); d.25Mar1931 (Motukarara, NZ)
       + Mary Ann REDMOND b.1858 (Ballygarrett); m.6May1879 (Christchurch, NZ); 
         d.12Jul1938 (Motukarara)
        5 Mary Ann BURKE b.20May1880 (Christchurch); d.6Jun1953 (Waiuku)
         + Alexander (Alec) Poynton JACK m.30Dec1911
        5 James BURKE b.12Dec1883
         + Amelia KAY m.1910 [122]
        5 David Michael BURKE b.29Jul1886
         + Marjorie WOODILL .. [or Agnes May KNEEBONE m.1924]
        5 Francis (Frank) John BURKE b.11Oct1888
         + Irene ("Rene") Rebecca Mary EASTON m.1920 .....
        5 Maurice Edmund BURKE b.14Nov1890
         + Mary SCANNELL ...
        5  Garrett Stephen BURKE see below
        5 George BURKE b.17Jul1894
         + Ellen ("Nell") Elizabeth BRIDGE m.1924 .. 


Dot & Garrett
S. Burke

Garrett & Ellen
Dot & Eileen


John & Colleen Frew


Roma 1992 (80)


Roma & Tom Eliason
        5 Patrick Augustus ("Gus") BURKE b.27Sep1895
         (1)Edna MILLAR
         (2)Evelina ("Lina") Emma HARPHAM m.1934 
        5 Julia Agnes BURKE b.17Jul1898
         + Roderick George McRAE m.1921 .. 
        5 Josephine Margaret Catherine BURKE b.9Sep1901
         + ? MANSON
 
        5  Garrett Stephen BURKE b.26Dec1881 (Christchurch); 
          d.9Jun1943 (Christchurch)
         + Ellen Ada SMITH b.1881 (Oamaru, NZ); m.11Oct1904
           d.20Aug1955 (Christchurch)
           dau of George SMITH and Elizabeth ACRES

          6 Maurice BURKE b.9Apr1905; d.1929 (California, bur. Aberdeen, NSW)

          6 Garrett Graham BURKE b.17Sep1907 (Coalgate, Canterbury, NZ); 
            d.1978 Onehunga, Auckland; Crem.21Feb1978; bur. Purewa 3May1978 [122] 
           + Thyra Mary Elizabeth DICKINSON b.22Jul1909 (Bay of Is, NZ); 
             m.6May1930 (Russell, Bay of Is); d.1994
            7  Colleen Ellen Catherine Burke b.5Jun1931 (Kawakawa)
              The author of the Burke Family Tree [957] 
             +(1)Leo Michael McNAMARA b.5Jun1924 (Ipswich QSL); 
              m.6May1956 (Moerewa);
               d.May2005
              6 five children..... 
             +(2) Richard John FREW b.22Oct1929 (Te Puke); 
               m.28Oct1983 (Kawakawa)               
            7 [Garrett and Thyra had four other children.....  ]

          6 Raymond George Stephen BURKE b.29Jan1910 (Hororata); d.16Sep1984
           + Winifred Gertrude HANN b.11Feb1913; d.15Mar2001
            7 four children.... 

          6  Roma Victoria Mary BURKE b.24May1912 (Hororata, Canterbury);
            m.12Oct1930 (Stratford); d.11Sept1992 
           +  Thomas (Tom) Edward ELIASON b.18Nov1908 (Stratford);
             Occ. share-milker; d.28Feb1988 (Hawera)
             Also see Thom & Roma

          6 Joyce Ellen Elizabeth BURKE b.22Jul1915 (Christchurch); d.1979
           + Warwick Linwood ("Lyn") REDWAY d.1979
            7 four children....

          6 Eric Samuel David BURKE b.2Jul1917 (Christchurch); d.1978
            Occ. teacher in Taranaki [122]
           + Marie Annette  b.May1917; d.1978
            7 two children.. 

Comment 1

Máire Bhuí Ní Laoire (Laoghaire) or Mary O'LEARY, a farmer's wife and an illiterate mother of nine, of the Bui (yellow) branch of the O'LEARY clan, became one of Munster's most celebrated folk poets of the 19th century and one of the last true Gaelic bards. [958], [959]

Máire Bhui (1774-1849) was born in Túirín na nÉan, near Inchigeelagh, Co.Cork. Although illiterate her poems and songs still survive in the folklore of west Cork. The general theme of most of her poetry was against the British rule of the time. Her best known poem is Cath Cheim an Fhia (The Battle of Keimaneigh), a stirring description of an armed clash in 1822 between local militia troops and and the secret society of Catholic tenant farmers known as the Whiteboys. This song is still sung and recited today. [959]

 

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