Skip to content
Orange County Public Library (opens the library’s website in a new tab)

Key local figure

Mary “Polly” Burke

Mary "Polly" Burke (1782–1869), only child of Governor Thomas Burke, taught Hillsborough children from about 1818 to 1834 in a log schoolhouse beside her East Queen Street home. Her school is cited as a forerunner of the Burwell School, and she helped organize Hillsborough Presbyterian Church.

Source: NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Burke, Mary ("Polly") Williams

Also found in catalogs as Mary Williams Burke.

2 works about Mary “Polly” Burke are indexed here.

Search these 2 works Research sources View indexed works ↓

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each opens its own page, with its events date by date.

StorylineHillsborough Presbyterian Church, 1815–18371815–1837 · 12 events · The first pastor of Hillsborough's Presbyterian church strained relations with his congregation by advocating religious education, Sunday schools and preaching for enslaved people. The brick church on West Tryon Street was built with money from a lottery the state authorized, and in September 1816 Mary W. Burke, eight others and the Rev. John Knox Witherspoon organized the church. In 1823 the session admonished two members for trading in enslaved people without punishing them. Witherspoon ended seventeen years as pastor in 1833. In 1834 six enslaved women were baptized, and in 1835 Robert Burwell began a thirteen-year pastorate; the church bought a manse, and a Sessions House was built for the Sunday school.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 7 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Polly Burke buys her house on East Queen Street Mary Williams Burke, the only child of Governor Thomas Burke, bought a modest house on East Queen Street in Hillsborough for four hundred dollars on June 5, 1810, when she was twenty-eight. She added the east bay to the house, which was later enlarged and named Heartsease. Place: Hillsborough, Heartsease (East Queen Street) · Also named: Thomas BurkeSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Burke, Mary ("Polly") Williams
  2. Polly Burke helps organize the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church In September 1816 Mary W. Burke joined eight other people and the Rev. John Knox Witherspoon to organize the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, which acquired the town's brick church built in 1810. She rented pew 13 on the first pew list and supported the church for the next eighteen years. People: John Knox Witherspoon Place: Hillsborough, Hillsborough Presbyterian Church · Also named: Mary W. BurkeSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Burke, Mary ("Polly") Williams
  3. Dr. James Webb deeds land for Polly Burke's log schoolhouse On November 6, 1817, Dr. James Webb deeded to his neighbor Mary W. Burke a strip of his lot on East Queen Street, where a log schoolhouse was built for her to teach the Webb children. Known as Miss Polly Burke's School, it took neighborhood children from about 1818 to 1834 and is cited as a forerunner of the Burwell School. People: James Webb Place: Hillsborough, East Queen Street · Also named: Mary W. Burke · Also mentions: Burwell SchoolSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Burke, Mary ("Polly") Williams
  4. Polly Burke leaves Hillsborough for Alabama In August 1834 Mary W. Burke sold most of her household goods and moved to Greensboro, Alabama, with her niece's family, part of a wider migration of Hillsborough people to Alabama. After her nephew-in-law died there she settled in Marion, where she taught again for many years. People: George Mulholland Johnston Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Mary W. BurkeSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Burke, Mary ("Polly") Williams
  5. Dr. James Webb builds a house around Polly Burke's log schoolhouse About twenty years after the one-room log schoolhouse went up on his East Queen Street land, Dr. James Webb built a house around it, with the log room as its living room. People: James Webb, Mary “Polly” Burke Place: 117 East Queen Street, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Historic District National Register Additional Documentation (2014), pdf p. 142
  6. Polly Burke's Queen Street house passes to Dennis Heartt's family Mary W. Burke, daughter of Governor Thomas Burke, moved to Alabama in 1837. On May 4 of that year James Webb, acting as her attorney, sold her East Queen Street house for $750 to Caroline and Henrietta Heartt, daughters of the Hillsborough Recorder editor Dennis Heartt. The whole Heartt family lived there, the house came to be known as Heartsease, and the Heartts added the two-story west wing soon after the purchase. People: James Webb, Dennis Heartt Place: Hillsborough, Heartsease (East Queen Street) · Also named: Mary W. Burke, Henrietta HearttSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Heartsease, National Register nomination (OR0009), p. 5 · Also: Open Orange: Heartsease
  7. Dennis Heartt's family adds a two-story wing to Heartsease After buying Polly Burke's Queen Street house in 1837, the family of Recorder editor Dennis Heartt named it Heartsease and built a two-story Greek Revival wing on its west side about 1840. People: Dennis Heartt, Mary “Polly” Burke Place: 115 East Queen Street, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Historic District National Register Additional Documentation (2014), pdf p. 142

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Mary “Polly” Burke, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Indexed works

Works about or by Mary “Polly” Burke. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Hillsborough Historical Society Journal: Vol.1, No.1, July 1998

Hillsborough Historical Society · 1998

First issue of the Hillsborough Historical Society Journal, July 1998, drawing on Mary Claire Engstrom's research on the town. Pieces cover William Churton, the surveyor who laid out Hillsborough; Edmund Fanning and the town in the Regulator troubles and the Revolution; the Third Provincial Congress, which met at Hillsborough in 1775; and figures and places of the old town: Mary Burke, known as Polly, the Presbyterian minister John Knox Witherspoon, Dr. Thomas Webb and Faddis Tavern.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

NC Cardinal

Eliza Mary Bond Weissinger papers, 1785-1868.

Weissinger, Eliza Mary Bond, 1805-1875 · 1785

Papers of Eliza Mary Bond Weissinger (1805-1875), 435 items in half a linear foot dated 1785 to 1868, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 4443. Subjects include family and women's social life at Hillsborough and at Marion, Alabama, together with real property in the southern states and slavery.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Burke, Mary Williams, 1782-1869.

UNC

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

All places and the county map →

Records of enslaved people

3 records, 1803 to 1845, name Mary “Polly” Burke as a party to the sale, gift, trust or other transfer of enslaved people. Each record lists the people named in it, with their ages and family ties.

Search all records of enslaved people in Orange County →

Deeds

20 deeds, 1799 to 1845, in the county’s deed books name Mary “Polly” Burke as a party, from Mark Chilton’s published abstracts. Each links to the deed-book page at the Register of Deeds.

Show all 20 deeds

Search every historic deed →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Background

Historic sites, markers, and maps

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Mary “Polly” Burke Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about Mary “Polly” Burke

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Catalog searches use the catalog name heading: Burke, Mary Williams, 1782-1869. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Browse New Arrivals → Meet Local Authors → Explore Local Publishers →
Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026