{"id":14502,"date":"2017-10-01T02:35:55","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T02:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/?p=14502"},"modified":"2022-03-13T05:30:47","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T05:30:47","slug":"solved-treasure-chest-thursday-moms-address-book-solves-burk-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rootsfinder.com\/blog\/solved-treasure-chest-thursday-moms-address-book-solves-burk-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Solved It: Treasure Chest Thursday: Mom’s Address Book Solves a Burk Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Marian Wood, blog author from the website Climbing My Family Tree<\/a>, has shared this blog as part of our ongoing \u201cHow I Solved It Series\u201d.<\/p>\n

This blog tells how she used her mother’s address book as an unconventional resource that we don’t often think about. It’s a good reminder to look at everything when going through a parent’s belongings after they pass.<\/p>\n

Treasure Chest Thursday: Mom’s Address Book Solves a Burk Mystery<\/h3>\n
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Mom’s old address book turned up the other day, quite by accident. When she was alive, I never saw this address book, so I never asked who these people were. As soon as I turned the pages, however, I knew her handwritten entries (from the 1950s) were going to help me solve at least one big family mystery.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the mystery is not in her family tree but in my father’s Burk family tree.<\/p>\n

My paternal grandpa Isaac Burk<\/b> (1882-1943) had two brothers that I know of: Abraham Berk<\/b>\/Burke (1877-1962) and Myer or Meyer Burke <\/b>(dates unknown). The brothers have also used Birk<\/b> as a surname spelling over the years.<\/p>\n

In the 1905 NY<\/a> Census, I found Grandpa Isaac (shown incorrectly as Isidore Burke), a carpenter living as a boarder with his future in-laws. The other boarder in the same apartment was Meyer Burke, a cutter (and Isaac’s brother, I presumed). For years, I searched for Meyer, but never could find him again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Meyer Berg’s WWII draft registration<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Now take a look at the address book snippet at top. Directly under Abraham Berk in Mom’s address book is a couple, Anna & Meyer Berg, living in the Bronx. That’s where many of Dad’s relatives lived in the 1930s-1950s.<\/p>\n

It’s not much of a leap to guess that Meyer Berg<\/b> is the brother of Isaac and Abraham–meaning he’s my great uncle, an ancestor I’ve tried to trace for a decade. Mom knew where he was all along!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Meyer Berg’s WWI draft registration<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Keeping Mom’s address book at hand, I quickly dug deeper and found:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Meyer Berg’s marriage info from ItalianGen.org<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n