Howard Alden Burk, notes from Nancy Dawson, May 2021
These notes are from interviews with my father, Dick Howard Dawson, during 1989 and 1991. My father's mother was Burk's stepdaughter, Hazel Goode Dawson. She made "Howard" her son Dick's middle name in honor of Howard Burk.
Burk took part in the Klondike Gold Rush, probably in 1897-1899. We don't know if he ever actually made it to the goldfields or made any mining claims. He established a plumbing supply business, named H. A. Burk Plumbing, in Valdez, Alaska. We have no records of how long he was there.
After Etta married Howard, his stepdaughter Hazel worked in his plumbing supply office in Casper, Wyoming, when she was in her 20s. Etta and Howard signed Hazel and Dan Dawson's marriage certificate in 1919 in Denver, Colorado.
Howard A. Burk was the only grandfather Dad ever really knew. Burk was Nanette (Etta) Scott Dare Goode's third husband. Dad remembers Grandpa Burk and Etta the most from when the Burks lived in Valparaiso, Florida, and Dad and his parents would visit them.
Dad said that Grandpa Burk and Etta were headed farther south, but for some reason stopped in Valparaiso and stayed. Howard bought a whole lot of property there.
The Valparaiso photos: Howard and Etta Burk and an unidentified woman. "The three soda squirts" written on the back in Etta's handwriting. Taken in front of the Burk' s drugstore and post office in Valparaiso, Florida Howard was the mayor, elected in the 1920s at the salary of $1 a year. As a plumber, he maintained the town pump and water system for free. He also gave away extra produce that he grew, and liked to say that he was unbeatable as a "dirty politician" because of the garden giveaway. These activities were popular with the voters. He was also a county commissioner. They lived in the apartment above the drugstore for awhile after their house burned down.
We have a copy of a 1936 letter written to Burk by Alf Landon, the unsuccessful Republican candidate for presidency against Franklin Roosevelt. Burk was still mayor of Valparaiso at that time.
These notes are from interviews with my father, Dick Howard Dawson, during 1989 and 1991. My father's mother was Burk's stepdaughter, Hazel Goode Dawson. She made "Howard" her son Dick's middle name in honor of Howard Burk.
Burk took part in the Klondike Gold Rush, probably in 1897-1899. We don't know if he ever actually made it to the goldfields or made any mining claims. He established a plumbing supply business, named H. A. Burk Plumbing, in Valdez, Alaska. We have no records of how long he was there.
After Etta married Howard, his stepdaughter Hazel worked in his plumbing supply office in Casper, Wyoming, when she was in her 20s. Etta and Howard signed Hazel and Dan Dawson's marriage certificate in 1919 in Denver, Colorado.
Howard A. Burk was the only grandfather Dad ever really knew. Burk was Nanette (Etta) Scott Dare Goode's third husband. Dad remembers Grandpa Burk and Etta the most from when the Burks lived in Valparaiso, Florida, and Dad and his parents would visit them.
Dad said that Grandpa Burk and Etta were headed farther south, but for some reason stopped in Valparaiso and stayed. Howard bought a whole lot of property there.
The Valparaiso photos: Howard and Etta Burk and an unidentified woman. "The three soda squirts" written on the back in Etta's handwriting. Taken in front of the Burk' s drugstore and post office in Valparaiso, Florida Howard was the mayor, elected in the 1920s at the salary of $1 a year. As a plumber, he maintained the town pump and water system for free. He also gave away extra produce that he grew, and liked to say that he was unbeatable as a "dirty politician" because of the garden giveaway. These activities were popular with the voters. He was also a county commissioner. They lived in the apartment above the drugstore for awhile after their house burned down.
We have a copy of a 1936 letter written to Burk by Alf Landon, the unsuccessful Republican candidate for presidency against Franklin Roosevelt. Burk was still mayor of Valparaiso at that time.
Howard Alden Burk, notes from Nancy Dawson, May 2021
These notes are from interviews with my father, Dick Howard Dawson, during 1989 and 1991. My father's mother was Burk's stepdaughter, Hazel Goode Dawson. She made "Howard" her son Dick's middle name in honor of Howard Burk.
Burk took part in the Klondike Gold Rush, probably in 1897-1899. We don't know if he ever actually made it to the goldfields or made any mining claims. He established a plumbing supply business, named H. A. Burk Plumbing, in Valdez, Alaska. We have no records of how long he was there.
After Etta married Howard, his stepdaughter Hazel worked in his plumbing supply office in Casper, Wyoming, when she was in her 20s. Etta and Howard signed Hazel and Dan Dawson's marriage certificate in 1919 in Denver, Colorado.
Howard A. Burk was the only grandfather Dad ever really knew. Burk was Nanette (Etta) Scott Dare Goode's third husband. Dad remembers Grandpa Burk and Etta the most from when the Burks lived in Valparaiso, Florida, and Dad and his parents would visit them.
Dad said that Grandpa Burk and Etta were headed farther south, but for some reason stopped in Valparaiso and stayed. Howard bought a whole lot of property there.
The Valparaiso photos: Howard and Etta Burk and an unidentified woman. "The three soda squirts" written on the back in Etta's handwriting. Taken in front of the Burk' s drugstore and post office in Valparaiso, Florida Howard was the mayor, elected in the 1920s at the salary of $1 a year. As a plumber, he maintained the town pump and water system for free. He also gave away extra produce that he grew, and liked to say that he was unbeatable as a "dirty politician" because of the garden giveaway. These activities were popular with the voters. He was also a county commissioner. They lived in the apartment above the drugstore for awhile after their house burned down.
We have a copy of a 1936 letter written to Burk by Alf Landon, the unsuccessful Republican candidate for presidency against Franklin Roosevelt. Burk was still mayor of Valparaiso at that time.
These notes are from interviews with my father, Dick Howard Dawson, during 1989 and 1991. My father's mother was Burk's stepdaughter, Hazel Goode Dawson. She made "Howard" her son Dick's middle name in honor of Howard Burk.
Burk took part in the Klondike Gold Rush, probably in 1897-1899. We don't know if he ever actually made it to the goldfields or made any mining claims. He established a plumbing supply business, named H. A. Burk Plumbing, in Valdez, Alaska. We have no records of how long he was there.
After Etta married Howard, his stepdaughter Hazel worked in his plumbing supply office in Casper, Wyoming, when she was in her 20s. Etta and Howard signed Hazel and Dan Dawson's marriage certificate in 1919 in Denver, Colorado.
Howard A. Burk was the only grandfather Dad ever really knew. Burk was Nanette (Etta) Scott Dare Goode's third husband. Dad remembers Grandpa Burk and Etta the most from when the Burks lived in Valparaiso, Florida, and Dad and his parents would visit them.
Dad said that Grandpa Burk and Etta were headed farther south, but for some reason stopped in Valparaiso and stayed. Howard bought a whole lot of property there.
The Valparaiso photos: Howard and Etta Burk and an unidentified woman. "The three soda squirts" written on the back in Etta's handwriting. Taken in front of the Burk' s drugstore and post office in Valparaiso, Florida Howard was the mayor, elected in the 1920s at the salary of $1 a year. As a plumber, he maintained the town pump and water system for free. He also gave away extra produce that he grew, and liked to say that he was unbeatable as a "dirty politician" because of the garden giveaway. These activities were popular with the voters. He was also a county commissioner. They lived in the apartment above the drugstore for awhile after their house burned down.
We have a copy of a 1936 letter written to Burk by Alf Landon, the unsuccessful Republican candidate for presidency against Franklin Roosevelt. Burk was still mayor of Valparaiso at that time.
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