John's Story
Birth: November 1st, 1853 | male | Scotia, Canada
Death: June 27th, 1855 | 1 year old | on the Mormon Trail camped by Ketchum Creek between Kearney and Leavenworth
Memorial: Stone 5 | right column
John Dunbrack Faulkner James is the last 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. Measles broke out among the Company. John, 2-years-old, fell victim of the disease and died on June 27, 1855. He is buried on the plains where they had camped for the night. Before the family could reach the Valley, four brothers and their mother would pass away of cholera (a bacterial disease caused from contaminated water).