John Tanner and his family

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48 John Tanner and His Family The author of the above is not known or the source of his in­ formation, but the reader will notice similarities as well as differences in the additional items included in this chapter in which the author is known. The next version (written by Francis M. Lyman) was given orally by Elizabeth Beswick, third wife of John Tanner; Sidney Tanner; Louisa Maria Lyman; and some of the younger members of the family. The date is not given, but the author's guess is it was done in the early 1880s. The entire item is seven, single-spaced type­ written pages and will be printed in full in the Appendix. Following are two paragraphs: 2 so terribly afflicted with black or mortification number, from his thigh to his shin on his left leg, that he was pronounced incurable by seven physicians, the last of whom, Dr. Clark of Sandy Hill, a very celebrated practitioner, said In 1832 he sores, seven was in he could make him a bill for medical attendance of $500 but he could do him no good as he was beyond the reach of medicine. In the fore part of September, 1832, Father Tanner was called upon two Elders from the Latter-day Saints, Simeon and Jared Carter. by At this time he had been three months that he could not allow his afflicted limb to hang down or to rest on the floor, but it must be kept horizontal with his body resting on pillows in a chair in front of him. Jared Carter asked him on the sixteenth day of September, if he thought his leg could be healed, and he answered, "the Lord can heal it," and Jared stood up and laid his right hand upon Father Tanner's shoulder and commanded him in the name of the Lord to "arise and walk;" He then arose but dare not put his afflicted foot to the floor, when Jared told him to put his foot to the floor, in the name of the Lord, and he did so, and was instantly healed, and the next day he walked without crutches or help a quarter of a mile to Lake George and was baptized by Simeon Carter, and walked back home, praising the Lord. If the writer of Scraps of Biography was in any way dependent the above article and the writer thinks he was he took con­ siderable liberty with his source, changing and enlarging it as he went on - - The Tanner folks in the article say he walked a quarter of mile and that he waited until the next day. Scraps of Biography says three-quarters of a mile and that they went at eleven o'clock at night. The Tanner home is only one block from the lake. along. a