John Tanner and his family

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54 John Tanner and His Family Tanner and Nathan Tanner, are from eyewitnesses, but were given Both seem so much later that one needs to exercise some caution. to have been given at a family reunion in Payson, Utah, in 1884, at which all of John's children who were present related their ex­ periences. Mother Elizabeth's account comes from a principal participant when she was eighty-one years of age, but the story sounds correct in most details, and it contains some things not found in the other accounts. This is a most important source in understanding the part played by the Tanners, particularly in the Kirtland area. Nathan Tanner was sixty-nine years old when he gave the Payson talk. Most of his material seems to have been taken from an earlier source known as his Journal, but he was entertaining members of the family, which must be taken into account. However, there seems little reason for doubting any of the factual material, and the whole bears the mark of genuineness. The "Reminiscences" dictated to Francis M. Lyman by Eliza­ beth, Sidney, Maria, and some of the younger members of the family, has the advantage of several members of the family working together in its preparation. But it is so far removed from the events in point of time that one must tread cautiously, the same as with the other accounts. The other three accounts, Scraps of Biography, Biographical Encyclopedia, and the "Journal History" are all official Latter-day Saint accounts, and as stated in Scraps of Biography, "Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints." Regrading the date of John Tanner's baptism, the Carter Journal makes the time quite clear. By the use of this and the "Journal His­ tory" there is no longer any doubt that this important event took place September 17, 1832. It dates are in published accounts error as is unfortunate that of the event. They so many incorrect will perpetuate the for many years. And now the story of the conversion of John Tanner and the author constructs it from the various sources. family John Tanner, a fairly well-to-do farmer, stock raiser and lumber­ on the shores of Lake George with his third wife, Eliza­ beth Beswick, and a large family of children three married sons and one married daughter, and eight unmarried children. In the latter part of August 1832, two missionaries, Jared and Simeon man, lived -