Joseph Marion "Jay" Tanner (March 26, 1859 – August 19, 1927) was an American educator and a leader in

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church). He has been described as "one of the most gifted teachers and writers in the DSChurch in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries". Tanner was born in Payson, Utah Territory, in a

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

family. He attended Brigham Young Academy in

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU). Provo lies between the ...

before departing the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

for the LDS Church. From 1884 to 1887, he preached

Mormonism Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of t ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. Along with

Jacob Spori Jacob Spori (March 26, 1847 – September 27, 1903) was the first principal of the Bannock Stake Academy, an institution that would eventually become Brigham Young University–Idaho. A native of Switzerland, Spori was a high school principal and g ...

, he was the first LDS Church missionary to preach in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

—where they baptized Mischa Markow—and was the organizer of the first

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk (botany), trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term '' ...

of the LDS Church in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. From 1887 to 1891, Tanner was the principal of

Brigham Young College Brigham Young College was a college and high school in Logan, Utah. It was founded by Brigham Young on 6 August 1877, 23 days before his death. He deeded several acres of land to a board of trustees for the development of a college. This was j ...

Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...

. In 1891, he became the leader of the first group of Latter-day Saints to enroll at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Tanner studied law at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

until 1894, when his ill health prompted him to return to Utah. From 1896 to 1900, Tanner was president of

Utah Agricultural College Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

, which is today

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

. In 1901, Tanner succeeded

Karl G. Maeser Karl Gottfried Maeser (January 16, 1828 – February 15, 1901) was a prominent Utah educator and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served 16 years as principal of Brigham Young Academy. Although h ...

and became the second

Commissioner of Church Education The Church Educational System (CES) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) consists of several institutions that provide religious and secular education for both Latter-day Saint and non–Latter-day Saint elementary, sec ...

for the LDS Church. At the same time, he became the second assistant to Lorenzo Snow in the general superintendency of the church's Deseret Sunday School Union. When Snow died and was succeeded by

Joseph F. Smith Joseph Fielding Smith Sr. (November 13, 1838 – November 19, 1918) was an American religious leader who served as the sixth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was the nephew of Joseph Smith, the founde ...

, Tanner became Smith's second assistant in the church's Sunday School. Tanner retired in 1906 and emigrated to

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada, where he farmed in the Cardston area. From 1906 to 1921 Tanner wrote extensively for the '' Improvement Era'', an official periodical of the LDS Church. He wrote a number of books, including manuals for the church's Sunday School and a biography of John R. Murdock. Tanner was a practitioner of

plural marriage Polygamy (called plural marriage by Latter-day Saints in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of polygamy) was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more tha ...

and had six wives. His second wife, Annie Clark Tanner, reported his abandoning her and their children.Jeffrey Nichols (2002). ''Prostitution, Polygamy, and Power: Salt Lake City, 1847-1918'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) p. 17. Tanner died in

Lethbridge, Alberta Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to ...

, and was buried in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Notes

References

Arnold K. Garr Arnold Kent Garr (born June 14, 1944) was the chair of the department of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 2006 to 2009. He was also the lead editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History''. Biography ...

Donald Q. Cannon Donald Quayle Cannon (born 1936) is a retired professor at Brigham Young University who specializes in Latter-day Saint history, particularly early Latter-day Saint history and international Latter-day Saint history. As a young man, Cannon was a ...

Richard O. Cowan Richard Olsen Cowan (born 1934) is a historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and a former professor in the Church History Department of Brigham Young University (BYU). He was one of the longest-serving BYU faculty a ...

(eds.) (2000). ''Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History'' (Salt Lake City, Utah:

Deseret Book Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), the ...

) * Margery W. Ward (1980). ''A Life Divided: The Biography of Joseph Marion Tanner, 1859–1927'' (Shepherdsville, Ken.: Publishers Press) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Joseph M. 1859 births 1927 deaths 19th-century Mormon missionaries American Latter Day Saint writers American Mormon missionaries in Palestine (region) American emigrants to Canada American expatriates in the Ottoman Empire American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Brigham Young College faculty Canadian Latter Day Saint writers Canadian Latter Day Saints Canadian leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Commissioners of Church Education (LDS Church) Counselors in the General Presidency of the Sunday School (LDS Church) Harvard Law School alumni Latter Day Saints from Massachusetts Latter Day Saints from Utah Mormon missionaries in Europe Mormon missionaries in the Ottoman Empire People from Cardston County People from Payson, Utah Presidents of Utah State University Tanner family Utah State University faculty Writers from Logan, Utah

See also

Notes

References