The following letter is New York native Sidney Tanner writing to his brother-in-law, Amasa Lyman, as Sidney evacuated both their families from San Bernardino, California, under the direction of Brigham Young while the United States Army marched toward Utah Territory.
Sidney Tanner
It may seem that this is a loose usage of the term “refugee,” but the San Bernardino settlers were leaving their homes due to an advancing army and their concerns were similar to those of refugees today: food, money, medical needs, transportation of women and children, and location and conditions of resettlement.
In the letter Sidney explains that he prefers to resettle his family in Great Salt Lake City, but they were assigned to Beaver, Utah, where he and his wife, Julia Ann Shepherd Tanner, spent the rest of their lives. He ends his letter hoping that his Heavenly Father will deliver them from the hand of the oppressor and enable them to do good while they remained on the earth. Though swamped with practical considerations, he understood their trials to serve a higher purpose.
The spelling is very rough in the letter, but the Church History Library contains another letter written by Sidney Tanner with different handwriting and spelling, so perhaps someone else wrote this letter for him, maybe one of his children, and maybe due to the eye problem he mentions. After the transcription, I have translated the contents of the letter into standard written English for easier understanding.
San Berinardino November the 7 [1857]
Br
Amsa Lyman
drop you Dear Sir
drop you a line to let you know of my welfare myself and family has ben a flicted with sore is eyes I have not ben able to but litle since I got home thare is a geate excitement in this place at pesent Brother Hanks sold me the four muls and two wagons the goats hee wod not due enny thin a bout I recicive your letter on the 28th I was glad to here from you you wanted me to look after your famly
I will do the bestican times Is vary hard here thare is no cance of seling land here at prsant I expect to start the temes about tenn days and bring Cornelia Piscilla Dionishia and my family as fur as seder citty
Tare stop and send back temes to help up the res of the famly I want you to make a raingment for grain thar for the temes to return wih as wee will have no monny
Brother Cox will do the best hecan for the rest of famly In my absence when I git the famly all along I want to come to citty of great salt lake
I wish you wood giv mee all the infrommation about this this matter from time to time seei meed and about all others my prare is to god my hevnly father hee will de liver us from the hand of opresor and in able us to du good while wee remain up on the erth
Amasa Lyman Sidney Tanner
A translation into standard English follows. Note that among these trips back and forth to San Bernardino, Sidney helped transport the Joseph Ridges pipe organ from Australia to be used in the old adobe tabernacle on Temple Square. Parts of the Ridges organ were later used in the organ in the Assembly Hall.
San Bernardino, November 7, 1857
Brother Amasa Lyman
Dear Sir:
I drop you a line to let you know of my welfare. My family and I have been afflicted with sore eyes. I have not been able to do but little since I got home. There is a great excitement in this place at present. Brother Ebenezer Hanks sold me the four mules and two wagons. The goats he would not do anything about. I received your letter on the 28th. I was glad to hear from you. You wanted me to look after your family.
I will do the best I can. Times are very hard. There is no chance of selling land here at present. I expect to start the teams in about ten days and will bring your wives Cornelia [Ely Partridge Lyman], Priscilla [Turley Lyman], Dionita [Walker Lyman], and my family as far as Cedar City.
There I will stop and send back teams to help the rest of the family come. I want you to make arrangement for grain there for the teams to return with to San Bernardino, as we will have no money.
Brother William J. Cox will do the best he can for the rest of the family in my absence. When I get the family all along I want to come to the city of Great Salt Lake.
I wish you would give me all the information about this matter from time to time [seei meed?] and about all others.
My prayer is to God my Heavenly Father he will deliver us from the hand of the oppressor and enable us to do good while we remain upon the earth.
To: Amasa Lyman From: Sidney Tanner
• • •
And that was the third of three selections from the Amasa M. Lyman Collection at the Church History Library. First: The Power of a Personal Letter. Second: The Price of Plural Marriage. The picture of Sidney Tanner is from the Bathsheba W. Bigler Smith Photograph Collection at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City.
I read through the transcription and was able to make sense of all of it, except for two words. But I was hopeful that those would be explained in your “translation.”
Alas, those are the exact words which appear in brackets with a question mark in your translation.
I wonder if the “meed” could be “need.” Without seeing the actual handwritten text, I’ve run out of further guesses.
@Mark B–If you click on the picture of the letter, it will take you to the full sized original letter. I still couldn’t make those two words out, but I didn’t study the whole letter which might give additional ideas about what the letters might be.
Oh, duh! I clicked on the top “photo” but not that bottom one.
Here’s my guess:
“I wish you would give me all the information about this matter from time to time [that you] see I need and about all others.”
‘seeing my need’ or ‘seeing as I need’. Just guessing from trying to read other people’s paperwork.
I bet the young people can read some of that letter, seeing how they spell everything now days about the same. Great faith this man has, willing to move is family by call of the church.
I love going page by page through correspondence collections. Your selection of these three amazing letters, Amy, should give all the justification anybody needs for your time spent surveying the Lyman papers. Thanks for all three of these posts.
See I need. Of course! Thanks!
And thanks for hosting these guest posts, Ardis. It’s great to have some place to share some of the things I find interesting while looking for other materials.
Calling them refugees is pretty accurate, as they were to be displaced because of pending war. Too often we have seen that such conditions make the selling of property problematic at best, and hard decisions need to be made about what to keep and what to leave behind. Brave souls, indeed, with greater faith than I have ever had to exercise.
As to “the goats he would do nothing about” speaks volumes. These are not the cute little baby goats we see prancing all over the internet, but likely older, cantankerous, irritating and irritable goats. Indeed, sometimes there just is nothing to be done.