Family records say that John Joshua Tanner's oldest child, Lydia Jane,
was born November 28, 1836 at Gallatin, Missouri; but in light of the
preceding historical facts, this appears to be in error, since the town
didn't yet exist at that time, and no Saints were living in that area.
It appears that John Joshua and Sidney Tanner and their families had
moved into Caldwell County, Missouri in the late summer of 1836 along
with a large number of Saints, and they started a nice farm a few miles
out from Far West (the town was established in August 1836). Probably
Lydia Jane Tanner was born at or near Far West. Sidney and John Joshua
had been joined in 1837 by Nathan Tanner's family and Louisa Maria
Tanner Lyman and family.
Nathan said that when they arrived in Far West, he felt "we had found a
paradise, the land was delightful, and my brother had secured some good
timber ... had built houses, broke up land and was then making rails to
fence the land." Since they needed money to purchase more land,
livestock, equipment, etc. from the "old settlers," and to get food and
supplies to last their families through the winter of 1837-38.
-Mike Riggs
