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Show CHAPTER 15 Payson, Utah - Home Q/ the Tanner's The author who grew up on the Little Colorado River in Arizona often heard his father Henry M. Tanner talk of the Tanners in Utah, and he remembers him making the statement that Payson was the home of the Tanners. But when he visited Payson while attending Brigham Young University in 1916, he was mildly disappointed at the small number of Tanner names in the Payson telephone directory there were not as many Tanners in Payson as he had supposed.' The following chapter will give information about those who were there. Payson is situated seventy miles south of Salt Lake City, under the majestic Wasatch Mountains. It is a typical Utah village of 4,500 inhabitants, largely dependent on agriculture and stock raising, and has an interesting history running back 125 years. In the autumn of 1850, Brigham Young called a number of families to settle there, the first of whom were James Pace, Andrew Jackson Stewart, John Courland Searle, Allison H. Hill, Nathaniel Haws, and Elias Gardner. The place gave promise of being a desirable location, and many others soon joined them. The earliest place of settlement was at Nebeker Grove, and the area was then known as Peteetneet, named for a creek, which in turn got its name from an Indian chief. In the preceding chapter dealing with the San Bernardino Mis sion, the fact was mentioned that the California colonists assembled at Payson in 1851 before leaving for the long trek to California. The village was then only a few months old but was growing rapidly. By the autumn of 1851, together with the people of Santaquin it numbered over four hundred. |
