Tannus was likely born around 1794. He was the eldest of five sons of Abu Husayn Yusuf al-Shidyaq, the other four being Mansur, As'ad, Ghalib and Faris. The Shidyaqs were learned Maronite laymen originally resident in the Keserwan area of central Mount Lebanon. Members of the family served as teachers and clerks for the Muslim, Christian and Druze nobility of Mount Lebanon and its environs from the early 17th century. Their education and relationships with the leading nobility placed them in the second strata of the local aristocracy and as such their members held the title of shaykh, a local rank below emir and equal to that of the feudal chieftains of the area.