My Genealogy Hound

Hugh F. Rourke, an old settler and well-to-do-farmer of Knox County, was born June 16, 1829, in Sangamon County, Ohio, and is the younger of two children of Patrick and Rosa (Donely) Rourke, natives of Counties Fermanagh and Tyrone, Ireland, where they were respectively reared, but met and married in America. The mother came directly to Ohio, where the father afterward came and married her. They then settled in Sangamon County, but after the birth of the two children moved to Franklin, now Columbia, the capital of the State. There the father died November 28, 1832, and seven years later the mother was married in Perry County, where the family had moved. Here they lived until 1840, then moving to Knox County, Mo., where they settled on a small tract of land on the western border of Edina. The husband died about 1870, and the mother then lived with our subject, until she died about 1877. Our subject was principally educated at the common schools of Edina, and at the age of eighteen went to California, returning home in four years, when he was married, April 25, 1854, to Mary, daughter of Patrick and Ellen (Walsh) Jarvies. This lady was born December 25, 1834, in Pennsylvania, and came to Knox County with her parents when a girl. To Mr. and Mrs. Rourke six children have been born: Rose Ellen (wife of Giles Tully), James Vincent, Patrick P., Teresa, Mary and Emma. Our subject now owns a fine farm of 520 acres, the most of which is cleared and well improved. It is nearly all fenced, and upon it there is a good residence and outbuildings, pleasantly situated, and also good wells and a wind pump. Mr. Rourke is a Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for Franklin Pierce in 1852. He has never sought political office, and is a well-respected and prosperous citizen. Himself and family are Roman Catholics.