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On the 2d of August, 1914, at St. Johns Hospital, St. Louis, Mo., death came to the Hon. David M. Faulkner at the age of seventy-two years. He was the son of Franklin Faulkner, who went from Tennessee to the Indian Territory, later marrying Aursakie Potts, a full blooded Cherokee, They settled on a farm near Stilwell, Okla., where Mrs. Faulkner died in 1845.

David Faulkner was reared on a farm. At the beginning of the War between the States he cast his lot with the Confederacy, enlisting in the service under Capt. Thomas Lewis, whose company formed the bodyguard of Gen. Albert Pike while he was negotiating with the Five Civilized Tribes in behalf of the Southern Confederacy. Captain Lewis's command was later merged into various Confederate organizations. David Faulkner joined the regiment commanded by Col. William Penn Adair, Stand Watie's brigade, afterwards famous as the 2d Cherokee. His military service consisted in garrisoning, scouting, and harrassing the enemy in the Indian country, and he also took part in the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark. In May, 1865, he was honorably discharged from the service. In April, 1867, he married Miss Rachel Adair, the daughter of a leading family of the Cherokee Nation, and established his home at Hanson, Sequoyah County, Okla., and engaged in farming and the cattle business.

Early in life David Faulkner manifested a keen interest in the political affairs of his people, and he soon became a leading figure in their national affairs, serving two years in the National Council and eight years in the National Senate and also as a delegate to Washington, where he represented the Cherokee interests before Congress and the departments. Subsequently he was elected assistant chief, which position he held with distinction until the final dissolution of the Cherokee Nation, June 30, 1914.

With the admission of the State of Oklahoma into the Union he at once became active in political affairs of the new State as a Democrat and was recognized by the party in many ways upon important delegations and committees. He was an active and prominent member of the Masonic Lodge, Order of the Eastern Star, and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also for many years a consistent member of the M. E. Church, South. His first wife died in 1899, and in 1900 he was married to Miss Emma Winford, a white woman of strong character and attainments, who survives him with their two sons and two daughters, theor home being at Claremore, Okla. Of the first marriage there were four sons and five daughters all surviving except one daughter.