Prior to 2015, little was known about the father of Lloyd Burke. At that time, a DNA test revealed a different story. Here is what was known:
Charles was born on 14December1890. Charles Burke married Winifrid Irene "May" Lewis Speer on 25November1929 at Summit County, Ohio. His marriage Certificate gives his parents as W.H. and Anna Phillips Burke, and his birthplace as Barbourville, Kentucky. May Lewis Speer was divorced, and had three young children. Charles, May, and the three children, Evelyn, Max, and George, are found in the 1930 census. The U.S. Census for Ohio, Summit, Akron, District 131 shows the family at 223 Russell Street in Akron, Ohio. May's father lived next door at 227 with Arthur and Idulla Hutchson. Thomas Lewis' wife Margaret had died the previous October. Charles is listed on the census as having been born in Georgia, and on his marriage certificate as being born in Kentucky. Charles and May had a son in 1931, and divorced around 1932. No further information is found for Charles Alvin Burke.
In January of 2015, Lloyd Burke took the Ancestry.com autosomal test. It revealed an inferred DNA match with four other Ancestry members at the 4th cousin level with the common ancestor as Isaac Burkhart. Isaac had a son named William Henry, whose wife was named Mary Anna Phillips. They had a son named Charles Dexter Burkhart, who had a son named Charles Alvin. He was missing in the 1930 census from Georgia, where his first wife, Ottie Mae Watkins lived. This Charles Dexter Burkhart was married with six children when he married May Lewis. Records indicate he was a bigamist and a fortune hunter. He married May at the beginning of the Depression, when her mother had died the year before, and her father would die within four years. Although not extremely well off, Thomas Lewis was better off than most, as he was retired with a pension from the New Castle tin mill. It appears Burkhart married May for her inheritance, but left when his own father died in early October of 1933. May's father died less than three weeks later.
Charles returned to his first wife, Ottie Mae, and he died February 28, 1962.
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