John Tanner

Who was John Tanner?

John Tanner was captured by Shawnee American Indians as a child of ten, after his family had moved to territory on the Ohio River in present-day Kentucky. He grew up with the Ojibwa nation, becoming fully acculturated and learning the Saulteaux language. He married an Indian woman, guided Europeans in the Northwest, and worked as an interpreter at fur trading posts. In 1830 his book about his many years with the American Indians was published in New York. Its title was A narrative of the captivity and adventures of John Tanner, during thirty years residence among the Indians in the interior of North America.