This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Werneke, Burke, Kelly, Johnson, Seidles, Wynn, Barr,
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Ek.2ADE/3136
Message Board Post:
This book has no cover, and no index, and no author. I bought it on Ebay; it just has the
insides, but it is full of Indiana biographies. I am not researching this family, just
thought I would share. I do not know anymore about these families or these surnames. NOTE:
I don’t know if there is any additional mention of this family in the book, it has no
index. I do not want to sell this book. I am typing the biographies from it.
Typed by Lora Radiches:
Other surnames mentioned in the biography of RICHARD ALOYSIUS WERNEKE are, Wernzke,
Werneke, Burke, Kelly, Johnson, Seidles, Wynn, Barr,
RICHARD ALOYSIUS WERNEKE, Terre Haute attorney, one of the leaders of the
Democratic Party in that city, is a man of many interesting activities and attainments.
He was born in Terre Haute, May 1, 1883, and has some prominent family connections
in this section of Indiana. His grandfather, August Werneke, came from Germany and
was a tanner at Greencastle, Indiana. The Father, August A. Werneke, was a printer by
trade and also prominent in Terre Haute musical circles. Mr. Werneke through his mother is
related to Martin Burke, a Vigo County pioneer, who died in 1856. Martin Burke helped
build the first structures at St Mary’s of the Woods when Sister Theodora organized that
famous school. Susan (Burke) Kelly, a sister of Martin Burke, was the mother of’ Andrew
F. Kelly, who was killed while on duty, April 20, 1863, as engineer on the steamboat
Dakota, which was carrying Union soldiers down the Mississippi River. Andrew P.!
Kelly married Bridget Johnson, and one of their children was Susan Demaris
Kelly, mother of Mr. Burke, the lawyer. Through Bridget Johnson Kelly, Mr. Werneke
is a descendant of Peter Seidles, a Pennsylvania soldier in the Revolutionary war. Richard
A. Werneke attended parochial and public schools in Terre Haute and studied law in the
office of his uncle, Albert G. Kelly. He was admitted to the bar in 1910 and for twenty
years had a busy practice, mostly on the civil side of the docket. He is a member of
the Vigo County, Indiana State and American Bar Associations. Mr. Werneke was
city chairman of the Democratic Party when Terre Haute for the first time elected its
entire Democratic ticket. He has been a delegate to various state and national
conventions, being at the Houston Convention of 1928. From 1914 to 1917 he served as
prosecuting attorney of Vigo County. He successfully prosecuted the first man ever
condemned to the electric chair in!
Indiana, and he also prosecuted the first double murder trial in Vigo
County. Mr. Werneke’s name appears prominent in connection with war activities in Terre
Haute. He was a member of the legal advisory board, helped organize the welfare fund
campaign and also helped organize the campaign for funds as a result of which the Terre
Haute Military Companies—Company B of the Second Indiana National Guard, Company H of the
First Indiana Infantry and Company A of the First Separate Battalion, Indiana
Engineers—were sent to camp fully and completely equipped. Mr. Werneke himself went to
France in October, 1918, — Knight of Columbus secretary, being at Bordeaux and Paris.
While in Paris he had the honor of the first interview after the armistice with Andrew
Tardieu, the high commissioner. This interview was cabled November 11, 1918, to a group of
Indiana journals. It was through Tardieu that he received from the French government the
cannon that was presented to Terre Haute. He returned from France In April, 1919. Mr. !
Werneke is a member of the Knights of Columbus, Loyal Order of Moose, Chamber of
Commerce, Fraternal Order of - Eagles, Gamma Eta Gamma legal fraternity, Hank Walton
League, Terre Haute Boat Club, Associate member of the Indiana Democratic Editorial
Association- and a member of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church. He is former chairman of the
Indiana Democratic Cit, has been chairman of the city and Vigo County Democratic
committee, and during the campaign of 1928 was a financial director of the national
Democratic committee. He married, September 10, 1910 Miss Nina A. Wynn, of Dedman,
Illinois. She is a daughter of Charles T. and Mattie Ethel (Barr) Wynn and granddaughter
of John William and Clarissa Wynn and Michael and Sarah Barr. The Barrs were Indian
pioneers. John William Wynn was with an Indiana regiment in the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs.
Werneke have one son. Richard Aloysius, Jr.