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Show 22 John Tanner and His principal are sources Family of information about John Tanner and the to be found in official Latter-day family Saint literature. appeared in the book, Scraps of Biography.llZ written to create faith in the minds of young Latter-day Saints and contains a number of anecdotes about John Tanner. It is from the two chapters in Scraps of Biography that most of the The earliest of these The book was tales about John Tanner have come down to us. No documentation is given and it is likely that most of the information came orally from members of the family possibly from the Francis M. Lyman - article mentioned above. Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume John Tanner and his work and is more II devotes four pages to chronicle of his various a activities than stories." While the information in Scraps of Biography and Biographical Encyclopedia are valuable, every effort has been made to go beyond them and procure first-hand information from original journals, letters, and whatever can be found. "Journal History" which is composed of bits of information gleaned from many sources, is helpful in filling in gaps otherwise difficult to supply." * * * * John Tanner was born August 15, 1778, in Hopkinton, Rhode Island." This was two years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the thirteen colonies were locked in a death struggle with Great Britain with prospects for survival none too bright. George Washington, the commander-in-chief of the colonial armies, The was forty-five years of age, and Thomas Jefferson thirty-five. was room. new and being settled and there was plenty of country Twelve years later, in 1790, the first United States census was taken showing the population of New York State to be 340,000 and the seventeen states making up the Union just under 4,000,000. John Tanner eleven years old when Washington took the president of the United States, and eighteen when he delivered his farewell address. Looking ahead a few years, he was twenty-seven years old when Joseph Smith was born. John and his sons and their sons have witnessed much of the history of the United States of America and have helped make some of it. This book narrates some of the history they helped to make. oath of office as was the In 1791, when John was thirteen years old the family moved from Rhode Island to Greenwich, New York, a lovely town forty |
