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I couldn't find the Burke's in the 1930 census, and couldn't find Jesse Burke either.
Social Security Death Index:
BURKE, Junior
Born: 16 Oct 1897
Died: Dec 1966 in Malta, Phillips County, Montana
Montana Death Index:
BURKE, Myrtle
Died: 13 Feb 1998 at 98 years of age
County(s) of Death & Residence: Glasgow, Valley County
Marital Status: Widowed
Father: WESTMAN, Andrew
Mother: MILLER, Margaret
I did find one interesting thing--it is an obituary for a nephew of Junior and Myrtle that they raised after his parents died. It gives quite a lot of family information:
Paul W. Berger
Paul W. Berger, 82, of Sand Springs, died Saturday, April 12, 2003, at Central Montana Medical Center in Lewistown of emphysema and congestive heart failure.
Visitation is Wednesday in the chapel in Jordan. His funeral is 11 a.m. Thursday at the VFW Hall in Jordan, with a luncheon to follow. Burial is 3 p.m. in the family lot in the Dilo Cemetery at the Berger Ranch. Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home of Miles City is in charge of the arrangements.
Survivors include his wife, Helen Berger of Sand Springs; stepchildren, Lonnie (Jamie) Arthur of Fairfield; Lisa Counts of Belgrade; Lori (Del) Henke of Great Falls; adopted son Mark Johnson, Katey, and children Lennae, Ethan, Raina, and Melanie of Sands Springs; adopted daughter Barbara Berg of Lewistown and children Jon Berg of Butte, Paula and husband Torrey Sullivan of Missoula, Karen of Lewistown, and many grandchildren, two great grandchildren, and cousins Don Burke of Glasgow, Gwen Williams of Mission Viejo, Calif.; Jean Sledge of Comanche, Texas; Paul Berger of Kalispell; and Carroll, Ira, and Gary Ferestad of Scobey and many extended family.
America lost a modern day hero when Paul W. Berger of Sand Springs passed away Saturday, April 12, 2003 after years of courageously battling emphysema and congestive heart failure.
Paul was born April 7, 1921, in Kellogg, Idaho, the only child of Pete Berger and Ruth 'Westman' Berger. Paul's dad homesteaded south of Content at the head of Larb Creek and Timber Creek on the Owlhoot Trail south of Malta and worked in the mines in Kellogg during the depression. His mother Ruth taught country school. Paul's parents both died when he was a small child. He was raised by his grandparents, Andrew and Margaret Westman of Content and later his aunt Myrtle 'Westman' Burke and Junior Burke in south Valley County. They lived on the Missouri River until as Paul put it, "They drowned us out when they built the Fort Peck Dam." Paul's formal education consisted of a year at Tallow Creek School and two or three in Malta. He quit grade school and worked on the home ranch until he was 13, when he decided if he was going to do a man's work he wanted to earn a man's wages. He saddled up his white horse Chum, tied on his bedroll and rode some 35 miles to the John Etchart ranch where he was hired on punching cows, breaking horses and working 30 to 40,000 head of sheep, herding them up into the Porcupine and lambing about 15,000 head of ewes. Wages were $30 dollars a month cowboy-ing and $40 for lambing. He also worked for Leila and Mitch Oxarart for a time. When he was 15, he started driving a delivery truck for Tom Markle Transfer in Glasgow in the winter; he hauled loads into Iowa and up to Great Falls to haul generators for the Fort Peck Dam and hay to ranchers or whatever they had to haul. Paul said "I didn't like it in town. In the summertime, I had to get out in the country." He put 700,000 miles on their truck, hauling cattle in to the sale ring. Paul was told he had a job there anytime he wanted it.
Paul decided right away he was going to have a ranch some day. He saved his money and bought one cow at a time and kept them wherever he could find pasture. He said "I was just a snot-nosed kid, and I was running cattle on the open range, and people didn't like it." The winter of 1949 and '50 he leased the Marvin Browning ranch and pastured his cattle with Marvin's...riding out in -65 degree weather to haul "cake" to the cattle on the edge of Fort Peck Lake. He spent many winters in cow camps alone subsisting on venison, antelope and the makings of sourdough biscuits and hotcakes. Paul said "I was doin' what I wanted to do...what more could you ask?"
Paul bought his first ranch from Fremont Gideon and later on, some irrigated land south of Glasgow. In 1958, he bought a ranch on Logepole Creek north of Sand Springs and moved there.
Paul married Erma "Rosie" Pense in 1976. They divorced in 1999. Paul and Rosie were the victims of a collusion between Federal Fish & Wildlife agents and CNN and one assistant U.S. Attorney when 21 federal agents raided their ranch March 24, 1993 and accused Paul of poisoning eagles. Paul went to trial, was acquitted of all charges except a minor misdemeanor of improper use of a pesticide which he plead guilty to in order to get his pickups back on the ranch. Paul became a hero to people from all walks of life, especially ranchers and farmers, when he sued U.S.F.W.P., CNN and the Untied States for trespass and trampling on his 4th amendment rights. Paul won a landmark decision in the Supreme Court of the United States that will help prevent further erosion of Constitutional Rights. Newspapers across the United States followed the case for eight years until CNN and the Federal Government settled with him in May of 2001. Paul was one of those rare people of character and principal who stood for what he believed in and 10 years after the raid strangers would still approach him and thank him for fighting and winning a battle with overzealous government agents who most people felt used him and Rosie as a potential stepping stone to fame and glory on worldwide CNN telecasts.
Paul never asked for any breaks and only wanted to keep what he had worked for. He loved the Missouri River Breaks and when he stepped out the door he was in God's church.
Paul married Helen Duvall-Arthur May 12, 2001. They have lived on the ranch spring through fall when Paul actively ran the ranch. Paul retired last year and they spent the last two winters in Lewistown.
Should friends desire, memorials may be made to the VFW Maintenance Fund in Jordan
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I hope you find this information useful.
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