Source: History of Whiteside County, Illinois
Edited by Charles Bent
Morrison, Illinois   1877

Transcribed by: Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society
www.tampicohistoricalsociety.citymax.com

Page 350

Horace Burke was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts. He lived in Bennington county, Vermont, 20 years. In 1839 he moved to Erie county, New York, and in 1834 came to Cook county, Illinois, and opened a farm on the Joliet road. He was by trade a carpenter, and worked in Chicago helping to raise and frame the first two-story house in that city. He came to Portland in June 1834, where he still lives. He lost his entire improvements in the tornado of 1844, and nearly all his stock. He rebuilt, and the weary traveler and emigrant have always found a cordial welcome in his house. It was the place for holding elections from 1836 to 1853. He married Miss Lydia Sprague in 1832, and after her death, married Mrs. Hannah Witt, in 1850. Children: James, Dwight E., Sarah, Georgia, Alice, Julia, and Lydia. Dwight E. is dead; Georgia married Frank Haddaway, and is also dead; Alice married Theodore Wyman and lives in Iowa; James married Miss Mary Briggs, Sarah married Wm. Harris, Julia married Geo. Curry, and Lydia married Monroe Occobock - the last four mentioned reside in Kansas.