Burke's Story
Birth: November 1st, 1851 | male | Scotia, Canada
Death: July 9th, 1855 | 3 years old | On the banks of the Platte River in Nebraska
Memorial: Stone 5 | right column
Burke Faulkner is the sixth of seven children born to James Faulkner and Mary Ann Dunbrack, both from Canada. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the family desired to journey to the Great Salt Lake Valley. In 1855, they joined the Jacob F. Secrist / Noah T. Guymon Company to cross the plains with other Saints.
Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, prematurity, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. Cholera (a bacterial disease caused from contaminated water) infected many in the Company and the majority of the Faulkner family. Among the victims were as Burke’s mother, Mary Ann, who died on July 5. Burke followed her in death four days later on July 9, 1855. He is buried on the prairie near the Platte River.
Before the Faulkner Family would reach the Valley, they would lose their mother and three brothers to cholera and one brother to the measles.