Albert was born on Saturday, April 6, 1866, the second child of Franz Gierke and Wilhelmina Zimmerman, in Wolkertsville (or Valkertsville), New York. The village is probably Wolcottsville; his older brother, Charles, had "Walkertsville" listed as his place of birth, and they are all pretty close, phoenetically, to Wolcottsville, a Prussian settlement in the Town of Royalton in Niagara County.
His name at birth was Albert Frank Gierke, but he changed it to "Yearke" in 1887, after his father died; actually, Albert's middle name was probably originally "Franz", and later Americanized to "Frank". For more on this surname change, please visit my Yearke Family Information page.
He married Rosa Drenken (originally spelled "Drenkhan") on September 15, 1892. They had six children: Lora (1893), Rose (1895), Frank (1896), Raymond (1898), Harvey (1900), and Ada (1906).
On September 6, 1895, Albert went to work as a patrolman for the Buffalo Police Department, working mostly out of the Twelfth Precinct on the East Side. He spent 28 years on the force, retiring on August 1, 1923, at the age of 57. I am wondering if he is in this picture, which looks like it was taken in the early 1900's. Another picture of the Twelfth Precinct, along with many other great historical photos and drawings, can be found on the same page as that one, part of Lt. Michael Kaska's Buffalo Police Then and Now web site. Lt. Kaska was kind enough to look up and scan Albert's employment card, which you can view here:
In 1911, he formed a company, "Yearke Bros.", with his brother John, and manufactured water meter boxes.
Albert died on September 7, 1928, only a couple of weeks after Harvey was married, and is buried in Ridge Lawn Cemetery.
A genealogical group sheet for Albert Yearke can be viewed by clicking on this link.
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