Merry Christmas!

Hello!
Merry Christmas everyone!

^{Isaiah 9:6} For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

JM

The History of Christmas

Hello Everyone!
 My friend Spencer Rothfuss and I are partnering up  to write a mini series on Christmas. He has written a post about the meaning of Christmas, while I have written this post about the history of Christmas, the holiday and the actual timing of Jesus Christ's birth. Here is a link to Spencer's blog post.



 Scholars debate exactly when Jesus was born. However, there are several clues which can help us determine, with relative accuracy, the year of Jesus' birth. In Matthew, Herod the Great plays a major role in what happens after Jesus' birth. Because he was alive when Jesus was born, and we know when his reign ended, we can use that to figure out when Jesus was actually born. Herod's reign ended in 4 B.C., the Bible says that right after this, Mary, Joseph and Jesus returned from Egypt. So the latest that he could have been born was 4 B.C. The earliest can be determined by looking at verses one and two of Luke: 2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register. While we don't know much about Quirinius, we do know that his rule began during 6 B.C., and the census which Mary and Joseph went to was after he had taken the throne. So, it is safe to assume that the earliest Jesus was born was probably around 6 B.C.  Now, everyone has seen the Christmas snow globes with the stable and the manger surrounded by snow. But, it's pretty clear that Jesus was NOT born in December. If he was born in December, why were there shepherds out in the fields? Why were people housed in barns? It would have been much, much too cold for these things. But the dagger for the winter being the birth month is the fact that, historically, Roman censuses were not taken during the winter months!  It appears that the early Church did not actually celebrate Christmas. They saw Easter as the only important holiday, as that was the day that Jesus rose from the dead. However, when Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor came to the throne, things changed. It is believed that that is when the first Christmas celebration came about. By the fourth century, we find references to two dates that were widely recognized—and now also celebrated—as Jesus’ birthday: December 25 in the western Roman Empire and January 6 in the East (especially in Egypt and Asia Minor). The modern Armenian Church continues to celebrate Christmas on January 6; for most Christians, however, December 25 would prevail, while January 6 eventually came to be known as the Feast of the Epiphany, commemorating the arrival of the magi in Bethlehem. The period between became the holiday season later known as the 12 days of Christmas. Christmas was celebrated as a time of wild feasting and celebration. It was so wild, that the Puritan colony of Massachusetts banned it. However, during the mid to late 1800s, a reformation took place. Writers and speakers called for an 'un-commercialized' Christmas. It was during this time,  the tradition of giving gifts was formed. That was how the Christmas that we know was formed. 

So what year and month was Jesus born on? Well let’s break down some quick numbers. We know that Elizabeth, (John the Baptist’s mother and Mary’s cousin) was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Jesus was conceived (Luke 1:24-36). We also know that John’s father Zacharias was a priest serving in the Temple just before John was conceived. Therefore, all we need to do is figure out when Zacharias served his term as a priest, add 15 months, and we have an approximate date! John's father, Zacharias, was a priest serving in the Jerusalem temple during the course of Abijah (Luke 1:5). Historical calculations show this course of service corresponded to June 13-19 in that year ( The Companion Bible, 1974, Appendix 179, p. 200).  Zacharias learned that he would have a child while he was serving as a temple priest.  (Luke 1:8-13). After he completed his service in Jerusalem and traveled home, Elizabeth learned that she would have a child. (verses 23-24). Adding nine months to that date brings us to the end of March as the most likely time for John's birth. Adding another six months (the difference in the ages between John and Jesus) brings us to the end of September as the likely time of Jesus' birth. So there you go! September is the likely birth month of Jesus! Now, some scholars also argue that it probably occurred in the Spring, due to the fact that the sheep were out in the fields. But I believe that the likely month was September. (This is just my opinion, not necessarily the truth. But from my research, I believe that September or October is the likely month.) 

 I hope that you all have a great Christmas and a happy New Year. And I ask you to always remember the 'Reason for the Season."

Thanks for reading.

JM

Sources:

How December 25 Became Christmas By: Andrew McGowan 

The Companion Bible

Biblical Evidence Shows Jesus Christ Wasn't Born on Dec. 25 By: Good News Editor

Who's Who and What's What in the Bible for Kids By Stephen Miller

The Victor Journey Through the Bible By: V. Gilbert Beers

The ESV Study Bible

The Resurgence BLog: When was Jesus Born? By: Mark Driscoll

Our Street Really Needs a Snowplow

This is what I thought this morning after our 8 inches of snow that we got. In the end, my Uncle Tim brought a Bobcat tractor and cleared all the driveways and several of the streets. Thanks Uncle Tim!
Thanks to Briley Matthia for this piece of artwork. To see more, go to his site.
JM

Joshua Tatum and the 1883 Nickel

Hello! Have you ever heard the term, “Don’t Josh Me!”? Well, as it turns out, this saying was inspired by an interesting story involving coins.

For younger readers, and older readers who don’t know, the nickel, currently has an image of our third president,

Thomas Jefferson. 

(Top, left) However, this is not the only 

design in the nickel’s storied history. Before the current one, there was another image of Jefferson. (Top, right) Even before that, there was the well known “Buffalo Nickel”. (Bottom left) And even before that, over 100 years ago, there was the V Nickel. (Bottom, right)

V means five, representing five cents. The V Nickel

was first minted in 1883, however, for the first

several months,underneath the V, the word 'cents' was not there. Several 'entrepreneurs' saw a slight resemblance between the five dollar gold piece and the five cent piece. They started plating, covering in a thin sheet of gold, five cent pieces in gold and passing them as five dollar pieces. Now, I know that looking at these pictures below, they don’t look the same, but in a busy shop, at a glance, a gold plated nickel looks similar to a five dollar piece. 

Five Dollar Piece

A gold plated V Nickel

An 1883 No Cents

One such ‘entrepreneur’ was named Joshua Tatum. He was a deaf mute, (someone who can’t hear or talk) which is very important to the story. He plated nickels, and then would go to a cigar shop and point at a pack of five cent pack of cigars. When the clerk got them, he would then pay with a plated nickel. The clerk, if he didn’t notice the difference, would give him $4.95 in change. If he noticed the difference, he would give him no change. (at the time, it was NOT illegal to plate coins. It WAS illegal to tell someone that it was a five dollar piece, not a nickel) After several months of this, the police finally caught on and arrested him. Now, remember that he was a deaf mute, which meant he couldn’t talk or hear. When he was taken to court, his lawyer argued that, when he walked into the shop and signaled which cigars he wanted, he never actually spoke to the clerk. He had no way of telling him the clerk that his change was off and never actually tried to tell the clerk that the nickel was a five dollar piece. Therefore, the lawyer argued, he was actually innocent. Now, while the jury knew that he was passing them, and that he knew what he was doing. They realized that he was, by the letter of the laws, innocent. He was acquitted. The meaning of the term “Don’t Josh Me”, means don’t mess with me, or don’t try to fool me. As Josh Tatum did to shopkeepers back in 1883.

Now, while there are some who believe that this story is not true, I do. I would like to thank ‘Coins Magazine’ for much of the information from this article, Mr. Mitch Ernst, the President of the Omaha Coin Club for telling me more about this story and selling me a coin which is possibly an actual Josh nickel! I hope that you all have a great day!

JM

Scanning Old Photos

Hello Everyone!
 Recently, my Great Grandmother died. She was 96. She left many, many photos. Some are from as back as the early 1920's while some as new as this year. Recently, while my grandparents (My Dad's parents) have been in town, I have been scanning the pictures. I have been scanning them so that they will be digitized and we will (hopefully) have them forever. Also, my grandparents have them and they live in Arizona, which is an issue for those of us who like looking at them. Since Saturday, I have scanned some, 140 photos. I will share the oldest and the newest as well as a couple of my favorites in this post. Look for more periodically, as I work on scanning them all. Also, look for more posts on my Great Grandparents as I dig through all of the stuff. Thanks for reading!

My Great Grandma and her sister eating watermelon. (Note the Model T)

My Great Grandparents before they were married.

My Great Grandparents before my Great Grandpa went to war.

A Silhouette of my Great Grandma
from the 1934 World's Fair 

From Left to Right: My G. Grandma, My G.G.G. Grandma, My Grandpa,  My G.G. Grandma

My Great Grandma holding me.

My great Grandma at her 96th Birthday Party. 

JM

Elizabeth (Betty) Lack Myers

Elizabeth (Betty) Lack Myers

August 12th 1916-November 21st 2012

R.I.P.
JM

Quick update on NHD

Hello everyone!
 Sorry for the long time between posts. I just wanted to give a quick update on NHD. After picking The Homestead Act of 1862 as our topic, we began our research slowly. We read several books as well as several websites. We then interviewed Willliam's great grandpa, who went with his parents to homestead at the age of three in Montana. (He has an incredible memory.) then, we went to Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska. There we looked over several hours of video footage taken by the rangers for a documentary that they made. We also interviewed the park historian (Who was extremely helpful) and we met the Park Superintendent who gave us park coins. (I will write about those in the next post.) We are now beginning the intense research, which means working for a couple hours each day on the project. More later! Thanks for reading!
JM

Person of the Week

Person of the Week #6

Hubert Alt

Born: February 26th, 1894, Butler County, Nebraska
Married: February 15th, 1927, Polk County, Nebraska to Vynetta Albers
Died: August 30th, 1977, Osceola, Polk County, Nebraska

Hubert Alt was born in 1894 in Nebraska. He married Vynetta Albers in 1927 in Nebraska. They had two children:
Maxine Alt
Richard Alt

Hubert died in Osceola, Nebraska on 1977 and is buried in Osceola.
Thanks for reading!
JM

Book Report

Hello everyone!

 Here is a report from last year's school work about my favorite Civil War general, George H. Thomas.

George H. Thomas

By: Justin Myers, 

 Simply put, George Henry Thomas was one of the best Union generals. Historians rank him as one of the three generals who won the Civil War for the Union. He is put with General Ulysses Grant and General William Sherman. He was an organizer like George McClellan and a fighter like Ulysses Grant. Here is his story.

 George Henry Thomas was born in July 31st, 1816 in Southhampton County, Virginia. His parents were John and Mary Thomas. His father was a plantation owner who owned many slaves. his father died when George was only 14. At the age of 18 Thomas became a cadet at West Point in New York, where he graduated 12th in his class in 1840. He was assigned to Texas, where he fought the Comanches. and Mexicans before returning to West Point in 1853 to teach. There, he married Frances Kellog at age 36.He was then assigned to Texas for a time. Everything was well..... for awhile. George Thomas' life was about to turn upside down.

 When the southern states seceded from the Union in 1861, George Thomas had a tough choice to make. He could go and join the Confederate States of America, which included his home state of Virginia. The governor there had already offered him a high ranking position there. Or, he could stick with his home country. Thomas decided on the latter. He refused the high ranking position in the Confederate army and declared that he was going to fight for his country, not his state. Soon afterwards, Thomas got a letter from his family, disinheriting him from the family. Even this didn't change his mind.

 George Thomas soon became a general in the United States army. (This was a time when the Union was short on decent generals.) He was affectionately called "Old Pap" by his soldiers because of how he cared for them. If they didn't eat, neither did he. He kept their uniforms neat and their stomachs full. He never marched until he was completely ready. But when he did, he struck like lightning, destroying everything in his path. Thomas won lasting fame at the battle of Chickamauga in Georgia. Moving slower than everyone else, his scouts were able to detect a Confederate trap wven while the rest of the soldiers where running. Thomas rallied his army, and held against the enemy onslaught for several hours. He saved the Army of the West from complete obliteration. From then on he was known as "The Rock of Chickamauga."

 George Thomas continued to win battles and was the man who broke the seige of Chattanooga in Tennessee. After the battle he ordered the mento bury the dead on a beautiful hillside. When it was time for the burials, a chaplain asked him if they should bury the men by states. He famously replied, "No, no. mix them up, mix them up. I am tired of state's rights."

After the Civil War ended, George Thomas reviewed his troops one last time, and then took control of the Department of the Cumberland, where he ordered his men to re-build houses and buildings in the South. He refused payment, and became loved by the people of Tennessee. In 1869, He took control of the Army of the Pacific in San Frisisco. He was only 53 when he died on March 28th, 1870, of a stroke. General George Thomas is remembered as one of the greatest generals in the Civil War. One of his fellow officers remarked, "He was a patriot without flaw, and a soldier without reproach."

The End

Thanks for reading!

Justin Myers

Person of the Week

Person of the Week #5

John Leedy

Born: 1779 in Washington County, Maryland
Married: March 4th, 1806 to Elizabeth Keith
Died: September 6th 1851

John Leedy, Known as "Big John", was born in Maryland during the revolution. As far as I can tell, he only had a daughter, Susan Leedy. He was married to Elizabeth Keith. He died in 1851. If you have more information or questions, please leave a comment so that I can get back to you! Thanks for reading!
JM

Person of the Week 4

Person of the Week 

#4

Michael McQuillan

Born: November 20th, 1842 in England

Married: May 1st, 1876 to Hannah Ratigan in Massachusetts  

Died: February 8th, 1919

Born in England, Michael's parents came from Ireland to England during the Great Potato famine. He worked for a cloth mill company and was transferred to Massachusetts, where he married Hannah Ratigan, also from Ireland. After a few months, he quit and they took the train as far as it would go. They stopped and homesteaded in Heartwell Nebraska. There, they homesteaded and had their children:

William McQuillan
James McQuillan
Thomas McQuillan
Joseph McQuillan
John McQuillan
Grace McQuillan
Catherine McQuillan

In the early 1900's, they moved to Meridian Mississippi due to Michael's lingering asthma. (He thought the south had cleaner air.) Michael died on February 8th, 1919. He is buried in Meridian.
Thanks for reading!
JM

Omaha Coin Club

Currently, I am a member of the Omaha Coin Club. The Coin Club is the oldest club of it's kind in Nebraska, having been organized in 1934. It's mission is to "encourage and promote study and interest in the science of munismatis and cultivat friendly relantions among collectors, students and dealers." They have monthly meetings every third Friday at the Douglas/Sarpy County 4-H building.

 At the meetings, there is a Y.N. meeting and then a business meeting. There is a member drawing for $5 as well as a drawing for several prizes such as coins, paper money, and mint products. After this, there is normally a presentation given by one of the members about a certain type of coin. (Did I mention that there are treats??) There is also a silent auction every month and a few dealers who sit in the back and sell coins. The membership is made up of mostly older people, and they are all willing to talk to you and offer you much of the knowledge that they have. I thoroughly enjoy each of the meetings! I hope that some day that you will come to one of the meetings! Here is the price for membership:
Traditional Membership (Printed Newsletter)

Adult Member: $10
Spouse: $5
YN: $5
Family: $20

Electronic Membership (Email Newsletter)
Regular Member: $5
Spouse: $2.50
YN: $2.50

Family: $10 
 Here is a link to their website.

Thanks for reading!!
JM

Person of the Week

Person of the Week 3

Adam Frank Zoucha

Birth: 1884, Poland

Married: To Mary Chohun on ???

Death: July 22nd, 1948 in Cedar Rapids, Nebraska

Son of Joseph and Eva Zoucha. Buried in Cedar Rapids, Nebraska. His children are: (as far as we know)

Raymond Zoucha

Robert Zoucha?????

He and his family lived in Cedar Rapids Nebraska. This is where most of the people in Nebraska with the surname Zoucha originate from this family. If you have anything to add or any questions about this person, please just leave a comment and I would be happy to answer you! Thanks for reading!

JM

A Great Book

This is a Book Report. Sort of. Actually, this is a quick summary of a book that I will be writing a report on. The name of the book is:
A History of the Ancient World
By: Susan Wise Bauer
Pub: 2007

In history, we are currently studying the ancient world. This book is the basis for our history curriculum, which my Mom has made by combining several different books. She assigns me chapters every week, and I read them. Hopefully, every couple of weeks, I will write a report on one of the chapters that I have read, and post it here. Currently, I am in chapter 49 (There are over 100), which is about the Greek dark age.
Here is a link to the book on Amazon.com:
 Thanks for reading!
JM

Person of the Week

Person of the Week 2

Vynetta Albers

Born: June 2nd, 1902 in Polk County, NE

Married: To Hubert Alt 15 February, 1927 in Polk County, NE

Died: November 7th, 1987 in David City, NE

She was the daughter of John and Maggie Albers. She lived in Nebraska for most of her life. Her children are:

Richard Alt

Maxine Alt

 She is buried in David City Nebraska. If you have questions or additions to this post, if you could post it in comments, I would love to hear your question. (our addition!) Thanks for Reading!

JM

The Ancient Lives Program

Hello everyone!
This blog post will explain the Ancient LIves Program. The Ancient Lives Program is a program of Oxford University. The program allows the viewer (And Translator, if you want to) to see the The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, which were discovered in the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus in Ancient Egypt and most of them are currently held at Oxford University. They were discovered in between 1896 and 1907. The dates range  from the 3rd century B.C. to the 7th century A.D..  500,000 scraps of them were found! Scholars have been studying them since then, but they have hardly scratched the surface! So, the Ancient Lives Program has put them all online. They are requesting that the public come and help them translate the papyri online. There's no need for knowledge of Greek or Latin, you click on the letter and then choose the letter it looks like from a keyboard on your screen. There's is also a tutorial at the beginning. If you have a little time on your hands, you should give it a shot. It's fun and you are helping scholars learn about the everyday life of Ancient people. Here's the link: http://ancientlives.org/transcribe
Thanks for reading!
JM

One of the Papyri. THis one is Amos 2 from the Bible.

Person of the Week

Person of the Week 1

Jonas Eschliman

Born: May 24th, 1862

Married: To Elizebeth Baur in 1882

Died: November 8th, 1918

The son of Abraham and Mary Eschliman, Jonas spent all of his life in rural Nebraska. His children are: 

Richard Eschliman

Leroy Eschliman

Irving Eschliman

George Eschliman

Estella Eschliman

Jonas Eschliman is currently buried in Greeley, Nebraska, in the protestant side of the Sacred Heart Cemetery. He is buried in a family plot along with his wife and several of his children.

If you have a question, please leave a comment and I can give you some information. Happy Columbus Day!

Thanks for reading!

JM 

Donald Eschliman

Last weekend, I heard an interesting story that I am currently investigating. According to my Grandma Myers and my Great Grandma (Eschliman) Zoucha, My Great Great Great Uncle had a son named Donald R. Eschliman. He was the son of Richard and Lucile Eschliman. He was probably job hunting after serving in the military during World War II. Sometime in between 1945 and 1950, his parents received a post card which said that he would be in Greeley, Nebraska, where all of the Eschlimans lived, in a few days. He was never heard from again.


Now, after some preliminary research, I believe I've found him. I looked on Ancestry.com for Census records. What I found matched what Great Grandma had said. Then I went to the website "FindAGrave.com", which has over 80 million grave sites cataloged. There, I found the same dates I found in the census and it matched the information that Grandma had told me. At that point, I put him on my family tree. The family always thought that he had been riding a boxcar back and had been mugged and killed. I don't think so. Why exactly he didn't come home I still have not figured out. However, I believe that he is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona.

Thanks to FindAGrave.com for the pictures of the Cemetery. 

So, although I believe that I have found him, I still don't know why he never came back. So, the mystery continues. If you have any information on Donald, if you could leave a comment, I would love to hear it. Thanks for reading!

JM 

Find an Eschliman!!

Here is a copy of a page of the 1880 Census (Top) and the 1940 Census (Bottom) See if you can find an Eschliman on one of these two!

P.S. I did find them. They are there.
JM

Book Report

Welcome to the Book Report section of my blog! So far, there are no book reports, but hopefully I will be able to get one or two on each month! Thanks!

JM

Genealogy

Welcome to the Genealogy section of my blog! This will be the main tag in my blog, so this is where most of the posts SHOULD be. J  Here, I will post new and old information about the Myers family line, the McQuillan family line, the Eschliman family line, the Zoucha family line, the Lack family line, the Rasschaert family line, the Birkel family line, and the Alt family line.  Every week, I will post a ‘Person of the Week’. This post will consist of the name and Dates of a person, along with as much about them as I know. At some point, I would like to scan the 100’s of pages that I have of histories, but first, we’d need a scanner. If you have any questions or corrections of information I have, if you could post a comment I will get back to you. Thanks for reading! I hope you’ll be back!

JM

NHD

Welcome to the NHD section of my blog! Everything that is tagged NHD will be an update on my NHD project. National History Day. National History Day is a competition in which students do primary and secondary research and then translate that research into a poster board, a website, a paper, a performance, or a documentary. There are two divisions: Junior (For Junior High) and Senior (For high school students).  The last two years, my friend William Scheopner and I have done a group documentary. The first year, we made a documentary about the fight to turn Nebraska’s legislature into a unicameral. We won Districts and State and proceeded to Nationals in Washington D.C. but we didn’t make it to Finals. In the second year, we made a documentary about Cyrus McCormick’s reaper, the ancestor of the combine. We won Districts, State and as well as special award from the Great Plains association. We went on to Nationals in Washington. We managed to make it to finals. The finals judges deemed us the best and we won the whole Junior Group Documentary category! This year William and I are already beginning work on our topic: The Homestead Act of 1862.

JM

Welcome!

Hello! And welcome to my blog Embrace the Geekness! The blog posts on this blog will be devoted to the study of history (Especially the history of my family; The Myers family) On the side bar, you will find four tags: Home, Genealogy, NHD, and Book Reports. Genealogy will be a tab with all of the posts related to the history of my family. NHD stands for National History Day, which is a competition in which students do primary and secondary research and then translate that research into a poster board, a website, a paper, a performance, or a documentary. I am in my third year of competing. Book reports will be book reports on history books that I am reading in school. And My Family will be an introduction to my family. Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll come back soon!

JM