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Show Joseph Smith 323 Tanner owned to the church in Kirtland and then they in Missouri with the mob constantly howling facing the bad year But John at their heels. Tanner did not stay poor long, not with plenty of rich farmland avail able for almost nothing. Within a year or two after settling at Mont rose, the family was not eating "fifteen-pound loaves of rye bread as their only diet." They had all the products of field and garden which the rich lands of the area, with of producing. good husbandry, was capable With the move of the Saints to the Missouri River in 1846, Joseph says that he assisted with the herding of the stock which were under the care of John Tanner. He would have been thirteen during the first year on the Missouri River. and He makes mention of the fire which damaged the Tanner home property. His account of the fire follows: "I returned to Winter Quarters about March 1847 and learned that fire, burning our we had been damaged by house, bedding, clothing, wagon boxes, leaving us in such a condition that we were compelled to remain another year and repair our conditions before we could come through to Utah." This would suggest that John Tanner intended to leave for Utah with the which went through in the summer and fall of 1847. late companies original journals or writings, such as those of Louisa Maria, Eliza Partridge Lyman, Myron, or Elizabeth Beswick, mention any such plan. The author doubts this intent, as none of the By the time of the move from the Missouri River to Salt Lake, Joseph was fourteen years old. He adds one colorful bit of informa tion to the trip across the plains, stating that in addition to six yoke of cows, they had "a bull in a crooked yoke on the lead and I was the driver."? The author is sorry there is no picture of that team; did Joseph ride the bull, or did he walk beside him? arrival in south Cottonwood, Joseph says that he and his father went up Little Cottonwood Creek and got out logs and timber to build two houses and two barns. Since they arrived in October before the ground was frozen, it is assumed they plowed Upon their their ground for spring planting. Said Joseph: crop the first year and from then on we had "We raised a good plenty.:" With the death of John Tanner in April of 1850, Joseph says that he and Freeman looked after the farm. Elizabeth's two older California. The sons, Myron and Seth, had left for the gold fields of other members of the family left for San Bernardino in 1851. |
