Harvey William Burk was a politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 and farmer

Farmer

A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...

.

Burk was educated in Darlington Township. He was married twice: to Roley Williams in 1848 and to Susan Armour in 1859. He operated a farm near Bowmanville

Bowmanville, Ontario

Bowmanville is the largest community in the Municipality of Clarington in Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario about 75 km east of Toronto and 15 km east of Oshawa along Highway 2...

. Burk served on the township council and was reeve from 1873 to 1874. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 as a Member the Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 to represent Durham West

Durham West

Durham West was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1904. It was located in the province of Ontario...

 in 1874. He won a landslide victory

Landslide victory

In politics, a landslide victory is the victory of a candidate or political party by an overwhelming margin in an election...

 in 1878

Canadian federal election, 1878

The Canadian federal election of 1878 was held on September 17 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 4th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the end of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal government after only one term in office. Canada suffered an economic depression...

. Burk resigned October 18, 1879 to allow Edward Blake

Edward Blake

Dominick Edward Blake, PC, QC , known as Edward Blake, was the second Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1880 to 1887...

 to be elected.

His daughter Mary Emily married Sam Hughes

Sam Hughes

For other people of the same name see Sam Hughes Sir Samuel Hughes, KCB, PC was the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence during World War I...

.