The Greatest Gift by Far

During this Christmas season, I hope each us takes the time to ponder the Greatest Gift.  This one is not just for the top two percent, but is given unconditionally to all who will accept Him and follow Him. Just click on the link below and begin to count your blessings.

http://youtu.be/05nA0cNEEqk

Duck Hunting Memories

There have been other posts on this blog about hunting, mostly about deer hunting.  This past weekend Jason went bird hunting here in Cache Valley out near Paradise with some of his friends.

He put a little post on his blog about the experience and as I read it I started to reminisce.  I never considered myself to be a great hunter, much less a great bird hunter, but as I reflect back over my life I couldn't help but think of some of my experiences hunting various kinds of birds.  Actually, no one in our family owned a shotgun until I was in high school.  I had always wanted a gun of my own, but money was tight and so I ended up borrowing a rifle for the deer hunt from one of our Lanark neighbors.  Ellis had purchased a gun (a Marlin 30-30 lever action) earlier with a part of his summer wages working in the hay fields in the Bear Lake Bottoms.  I was envious, but not very demanding and so I was often left out of the hunt, or at best had to use a borrowed gun. When Ellis went away to college I saved what little money I earned  until I had enough to buy a gun of my own.  I chose to own a shotgun as my first gun.  It couldn't be one of the fancy models, because my savings were meager.  I saw a JC Higgins 12 gauge shotgun in  the Sears Catalog.  It was on sale and when I checked my small reserve of cash I found I had enough to buy he gun.  Ellis was home for the weekend and so I asked him to go down to the Sears store in Logan when he went back to Utah State the next week and buy the gun for me.  He would bring it home to me when he came next time.  I could hardly wait.  Below is a picture of a new JC Higgins  like the one of which I was the proud owner.  It was a pump action 12 gauge, nothing fancy, but it worked I was one happy hunter.  I remember coming home from school on the bus that fall and before chores or anything else I'd take my gun and a few shells to one of the ponds in the area and see if I could find a duck to shoot at.  More often than not I did.  My shooting improved and I learned not only to shoot  but to clean the ducks and dress them out after I had shot them.  There were usually not many and I remember Mom using a few of them for soup and even  fried some for me  and any other takers on occasion.  I don't think duck ever became anyones favorite food.  It's probably a good thing, because my success hunting ducks was rather spotty at best.

I still have my trusty JC Higgins, but haven't been hunting with it for years; how sad is that?

I remember, when we were young and growing up on the farm, that in the fall of the year after the barley had been harvested huge flocks of southward migrating ducks would settle in the evenings on the stubble fields where they would glean the residue from the harvested crop.  There must have been quite bit left behind because it  seemed to attract the migrating ducks by the thousands.  I remember trying to sneak up on them while they were feeding and get in some real shooting.  Unfortunately, most often the ducks sensed me coming and the whole field seemed to thunder into the sky as they escaped this poor inept hunter, who usually fired futiley into the air.  It was fun, nonetheless.

Another vivid memory about duck hunting came years later after I was married and had children.  We had moved back to the Bear Lake Valley and were living in Liberty in the old Lyme Hymas house.  I remember coming home from school one autumn afternoon and noticed large numbers of ducks flying in the air above the canal which was located on the hillside above our home.  This happened for several days so I decided to check it out.  It so happened that Lane Hymas, a neighbor farmer, had been driving a truckload of grain across the wooden bridge crossing the canal just upstream from where we lived.  The heavy load  broke the timpers in the bridge and the truck tipped sideways into the small canal spilling most of the grain it was carrying.  Nobody was hurt and they were soon able to get the truck out of the canal, but not so with the spilled wheat.  Needless to say, the ducks found the spilled grain in short order and seemed to spread the word.  Hundreds of ducks could be seen alighting in the canal each evening.  I determined to take advantage of this unusual situation and after putting on my hipboots went up stream where I entered the canal and waded carefully and as quietly as possible toward where I knew the ducks were congregating.  The canal was only about five or six feet wide and the water had been mostly turned out of the ditch for the winter.  There was still about six inches of water in most places and it was not running very fast at all.  I finally could hear the ducks quaking loudly in the canal as they fed on the spilled grain.  Quietly, I approached.  The ducks were busy feeding and didn't detect me as I approached  with my trusty JC Higgins 12 gauge .   Suddenly, I rounded a protruding willow bush and there were ducks by the hundreds almost lined up waiting for me to shoot them.  Talk about "getting your ducks in a row."  Well, that is once I did.  I stopped and quietly aimed at the mass of duck feathers congregated in the canal.  I pulled the trigger,  The entire canal seamed to explode before me as the frightened ducks tried to elude the next two shots.  I pumped once and then twice, each time pulling the trigger to get of another shot.  I was not aiming at any particular bird and I didn't need to.  This was once when flock shooting turned out to be the best way to go.  By law shotguns in Idaho had to be limited to just three shots.  I didn't like that idea, but after counting the birds left in the ditch or nearby after my assault, I think it was probably for the best, if I had had six shells in the gun, I might have killed fifty birds.  As it was, I got about twenty with just three shots.  I had to go back to the house and get the car a little closer to my kill before hauling them home.  I broke the law, dang, but what was I to do.  I only pulled the trigger three times.  Oh, well, it was just that once.  Since that time I probably have not shot more ducks in the rest of my life than I did that early autumn evening with just three shots.

The ducks were busily feeding and didn't detect me as I appoached with my trusty JC Higgins.

100 YEARS AGO/ THE MORE THINGS CHANGE THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

Today, I have been reflecting on some important events of a hundred years ago.  The ones that have most affected my life in the eternal scheme of things were the birth of my mother, Edna Hymas, exactly 100 years ago today in Liberty, Idaho to Benjamin Pitman Hymas and Elizabeth Price Hymas and the birth of my Father, Darrell Eborn, to Arthur Phipp Eborn and Nina Louise Passey Eborn about three miles south of Liberty, Idaho in Lanark on October 6, 1912.  I cannot help but believe that in the preexistant realms they had discussed and chose to undertake these very events.  I am grateful for them and all they have done, whether in the preexistence, mortality, or is their present state to provide opportunities for each of us to come to this earth, to learn and have experience, to develop faith and attributes of character.  I, for one will be forever grateful for their love, nurture, and  example.  I shudder to think of where I might have been without them.

Lately, it seems I may have been a little preoccupied with the events taking place in our country and around the world.  We live in perilous times, but we are hardly the first to do so, and we will not be the last.  I thought someone might be interested in the events of 100 years ago, the year Dad and Mom were born into this world.  The times have changed alright, but in many ways they remain the same.  Each of us will have our appropriate share of challenges, just as those of past ages did. Such is the plan. They are not always easy, nor were they ever intended to be, but ultimately I am confident, that they will be worth the effort.  I pray tha each of us will face each day with hope and courage, just as our parents did through the years.

1912 (MCMXII) a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) in the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Sunday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar.

 Events

 January

Main article: January 1912

• January 1 – The Republic of China is proclaimed.
• January 4 – The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.
• January 5 (Old Style December 23, 1911)
  • Prague Party Conference: Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party break away from the rest of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.
  • Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet opens.
• January 8 – The African National Congress is founded.
• January 17 – British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott and a team of four become the second expeditionary group to reach the South Pole.
• January 23 – The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.

 February

Main article: February 1912

• February 12 – The Qing Dynasty of China, also called the Manchu Dynasty, comes to an end after 268 years.
• February 24 – Italy makes a surprise attack on the Ottoman port of Beirut, when the cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi and the gunboat Volturno bombard the harbour. The attack kills 97 sailors and civilians.
• February 29 – Serbia and Bulgaria secretly sign a treaty of alliance for a term of eight years, with each pledging to come to the defense of the other during war.

 March

Main article: March 1912

March 27: Cherry trees for Washington, D.C.

• March 1 – Albert Berry is reported to have made the first parachute jump from a flying airplane.
• March 5 – Italian forces are the first to use airships for a military purpose, using them for reconnaissance west of Tripoli, Libya, behind Turkish lines.
• March 7
  • Roald Amundsen in Hobart, Tasmania, announces his success in reaching the South Pole the previous December.
  • French aviator Henri Seimet makes the first nonstop flight from Paris to London, in three hours.
• March 12 – The Girl Scouts is founded by Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah, Georgia.
• March 16 – Lawrence Oates, dying member of Scott's South Pole expedition, leaves the tent saying, "I am just going outside and may be some time."
• March 27 – Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo gives 3,000 cherry trees to be planted in Washington, D.C., to symbolize the friendship between the two countries.
• March 29 – The remaining members of Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole expedition die.
• March 30 – France establishes a protectorate over Morocco.

 April

Main article: April 1912

April 15: The RMS Titanic sinks.

• April 10 - RMS Titanic departs from Southhampton.
• April 14 – RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg in the northern Atlantic Ocean. She sinks the following day with the loss of 1517 lives.
• April 16 - Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
• April 20 - Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts opens.

 May

Main article: May 1912

• May 1 - 'Abdu'l-Baha lays the cornerstone for the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois
• May 5 - The Olympic Games open in Stockholm, Sweden.
• May 13 – In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (forerunner of the Royal Air Force) is established.
• May 23 – The Hamburg America Line's SS Imperator is launched in Hamburg and is the world's largest ship.
• May 31 - U.S. Marines arrive in Cuba to "protect U.S. interests".

 June

Main article: June 1912

• June 4 – A fire in Istanbul destroys 1,120 buildings.
• June 5 – U.S. Marines land in Cuba.
• June 6 - The Novarupta volcano (290 miles (470 km) southwest of Anchorage) experiences a VEI 6 eruption; the largest eruption in the 20th century.
• June 8 – Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures.

 July

Main article: July 1912

• July 1 - Harriet Quimby, who set the record as the first women to fly the English Channel only 2 months before, dies in Squantum, Massachusetts after her brand-new two-seat Bleriot monoplane crashes, killing both Quimby and her passenger.
• July 12 – United States release of Sarah Bernhardt's film Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth is influential on the development of the movie feature. Adolf Zukor, who incorporates Paramount Pictures on May 8, 1914, launches his company as the distributor. Paramount celebrates its centennial in 2012.
• July 30 – Emperor Meiji of Japan dies. He is succeeded by his son Yoshihito who becomes Emperor Taishō. In Japanese History, the event marks the end of the Meiji era and the beginning of the Taishō era.

 August

Main article: August 1912

• August 4 – United States occupation of Nicaragua: U.S. Marines land from the USS Annapolis in Nicaragua to support the conservative government at its request.
• August 12 – Sultan Abd Al-Hafid of Morocco abdicates.
• August 25 – The Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party, is founded.

March 7: Amundsen and the South Pole

 September

Main article: September 1912

 October

Main article: October 1912

• October 8 – The First Balkan War begins: Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire.
• October 16 – Bulgarian pilots Radul Minkov and Prodan Toprakchiev perform the first bombing with an airplane in history, at the railway station of Karaagac near Edirne against Turkey.
• October 17 – Krupp engineers Benno Strauss and Eduard Maurer patent austenitic stainless steel.
• October 18 – Italy and the Ottoman Empire sign a treaty in Ouchy near Lausanne ending the Italo-Turkish War.
• October 24 – First Balkan War: Battle of Kumanovo: Serbian forces defeat the Ottoman army in Vardar Macedonia.
• October – Edgar Rice Burroughs' character Tarzan first appears in Tarzan of the Apes in American pulp magazine The All-Story.

 November

Main article: November 1912

• November 28 – Albania declares independence from the Ottoman Empire.

 December

Main article: December 1912

• December 18 – Piltdown Man, thought to be the fossilized skull of a hitherto unknown form of early human, presented to the Geological Society of London. It is revealed to be a hoax in 1953.
• December 24 – Merck files patent applications in Germany for synthesis of the entactogenic drug MDMA (Ecstasy), developed by Anton Köllisch.
• December 30 – The First Balkan War ends temporarily: Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League countries) sign an armistice with Turkey, ending the two-month-long war.

The Rut is On at Reed's House

Reed sent me this short video taken from the activities in his back yard at Bear Lake West.
He used to go to bed and hear those noises, Now he just gets up and looks out the window. Well, maybe not.
Such is life.
What a great place to live-Bear Lake. It doesn't get much better than that in my opinion.   Some people dream of dieing and going to heaven.  Reed and Lorraine just wake up in the morning and they are already there.

Once an Aggie, Always an Aggie

Old Main, where I worked all the way through college, and took classes  which changed my life. I still feel a sense of pride and accomplishment when I look up at the "A" on Old Main, especially when it is lighted at night.

I have often reflected on people and places who have touched my life for good.  One of those places was Utah State University.  I often wonder what my life would have been like had the years I spent at USU never happened. My life's experiences would have certainly been much different.  Well do I remember that first year at USU.  After leaving little Fielding High School in Paris, Idaho I was in awe of the big college in Logan.  I remember walking into the main campus library and just standing there wondering what to do.  There were so many more books than I had ever seen before.  I was intimidated to a degree with the thoughts of even checking a book out.  That feeling was soon overcome, however and I dove into my studies with all the determination of an eager young freshman set on learning all that I could and making the best of my college experience.  That first year I roomed with my cousin, Kay Hymas, also from Bear Lake.  We lived in a little apartment on Second East which meant a good long walk up to the campus every morning, come rain or come shine.  Actually it wasn't the rain of the shine that bothered me most, but the cold of winter.  I had a part time job on the campus working as a custodian in Old Main.  That's what paid the rent and bought the groceries.  There was little money left over for anything else.  As students, we had passes to all the athletic events on campus.  That was pretty much our social life, but we loved it and never missed a game.  I was fortunate to attend USU during years when they had some very good teams and some excellent athletes.  It was fun to get caught up  in the excitement of game day and I can truly say the Aggie Spirit caught hold of me.  I made some good friends with fellow students and professors at USU and feel like the quality of education I received was very good, at least I got out of it what I was willing to put into it and eventually graduated with a teaching degree certified in German, History, and U.S. Government.  This led me to my first teaching job at Twin Falls High School in Idaho and a career in teaching which spread over forty years.

I could go on and on about the experiences of those college years. but suffice it to say I learned a lot, prepared for a rewarding career and I became an Aggie.  Since the day I left USU I have always checked the papers to see how the Aggies were doing.  Occasionally, we even made it to a basketball of football game and inside I was always rooting for may favorite team, the Aggies.  I know, this wasn't the biggest time college sports on the planet, but it meant a lot to me and still does.

On Friday night Jared, who is also a true Aggie, had some tickets to the Utah-USU football game at Romney Stadium.  We took Justin and Chalisa's boys, Ethan and Hayden, and went to the game.  USU has been in a rebuilding mode in their football program for the past few years.  While Utah has risen to national prominence, the Aggies had lost the last twelve games in a row.  The Utes were now members of the powerful PAC12 conference along with many national power athletic teams like USC, Oregon, UCLA, Washington, etc.  I think many didn't give the Aggies much of a chance in this game. Surprise, surprise,  The Aggies jumped out to an early lead and never trailed in the game.  It was, however, tied at the end of regulation and the Aggies were able to pull out a 27-20 win in overtime.

The fans went wild and rushed the field.  It reminded me of the good old days at USU.

Utah State University has played a big role on others in our family as well.  I need to thank Ellis for setting the precedent and going to college.  His example inspired me and later Reed and Mark also ended up with degrees from Utah State.  In my own family we have four children who also earned degrees at USU.  Alison and Justin are still working on their degrees, after a little delay, but will soon finish up with degrees from USU. Stephen started at USU, but ended up getting his degree in business administration from Stevens-Henegar College. We have all pretty much had to work our way through college.  It wasn't easy, but it was doable for the dedicated and we all proved to be up to the task.  In addition we have five daughters-in-law and a son-in-law with degrees from USU.  Our eldest granddaughter, Kinsey, is now a student at USU.  If fact she is staying in the very same dorm her mom stayed in  when she was in school here in Logan at USU.  The university continues to affect our lives through the people we know, our own education and the effect the university has on the community.  We are fortunate to be Aggies.

Ethan and Hayden at the USU Aggie Game 

The Game --- USU 27-Utah 20

Mayhem on the Field as the Aggies Win

Beautiful Daughter, Beautiful Blessing, Beautiful Day, Beautiful Life

Beautiful Daughter, Beautiful Blessing, Beautiful Day, Beautiful Life

On Sunday, September 1st, many of our family, Samantha's family, and friends and associates of Ryan and Samantha and their sweet family were privileged to gather at the River Heights First Ward Church to witness the blessing of Ryan and Sam's sweet little newborn daughter. She was given the name of Neveah Kensington Eborn. The name and the blessing bestowed on her were given by her father. It was an outstanding blessing, given by the priesthood of God with much power and dignity. This little angel is fortunate to come into the world where she will be loved and cared for, taught and nourished physically, emotionally and especially in things pertaining to the Spirit. It is a great challenge to be responsible for the upbringing of these pure and innocent little ones so recently living in the presence of God and now entrusted to our care in this world where trial, hardship, and testing are to be experienced in preparation for the ultimate blessings promised those who will be faithful and endure to the end. What an honor, what a privilege, what a responsibility. If the love and teaching they give their other children are any indication of what lies in store for Neveah, she is indeed blessed, as are all of us who will have the opportunity to know her and extend an helping hand when it is needed throughout her life. She is our twenty-fifth grand child, now including twelve boys and thirteen girls. We are all blessed beyond measure. Our gratitude to the Source of all our blessings is great.

Neveah is just five weeks old at the time of this photograph. Samantha says she never fusses, unless she is hungry or has a messy diaper. Knowing Sam and Ryan, that will translate to a pretty peaceful upbringing. She is so blessed as are the loving parents and the rest of the family.

A proud papa and rightly so.

Mother and Grandmother are likewise proud of little Neveah

Intersting Family History Possibilities

Sometimes I feel a little like a squirrel running through the forest looking for branches of the family tree. Occasionally I have run on to some really interesting things. I recently ran across this article about one of the dead relatives of the Eborn clan of North Carolina. I still haven't been able to put an exact connection to our Eborn clan except to know that they both originated in the southern part of England. The Virginia clan came first, about 250 plus years before our side of the family did. I have actually traced our clan back to the same area in England and to a person named William Eborn, I am not sure whether this is the same William who came to Virginia in the early to middle 1600s. It is interesting to note that Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America, was settled in 1607 and really never took off to be successful until about 1620 or a little later. A William Ebourne/Eborn was among the first settlers. One of his sons, Henry, later moved to North Carolina, just down the bay a few miles from where they had settled and worked on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. While studying this family, I ran onto an extensive genealogical research effort that has been done on the early settlers of old Virginia. It includes copious records and family group sheets and pedigree charts. It would take somebody much smarter than I am to determine our exact relationship to these people, but suffice it to say our name is among these records. There are still a few missing pieces, but I feel confident that we will eventually find the connecting link.

The Spirit of Elijah is alive and well.

The following story was one I found about a young man in the family record. I found it very interesting and hope someone else will be interested as well. There is much, much more by way of historical records and especially by way of genealogical data which should be of value and interest to some on our side of the family.

William Taylor White:
finding the boy in the iron casket

A rambling by Tom Knapp

The mystery of a cast-iron coffin found by utility workers in Washington, D.C., has led on a meandering path to Lancaster County, Pa. Forensic researchers at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History announced Thursday that the remains of the 15-year-old boy unearthed in 2005 belong to William Taylor White -- and his closest living relative is quite likely Linda Dwyer, a 64-year-old convenience store clerk from Lancaster. "It's you! It's you!" was the message Dwyer received from ecstatic researchers after confirming the connection through a DNA test. "I think it's awesome," Dwyer said. "The whole technology of finding me and putting it all together ... it's so cool." Dwyer is thought to be White's great-great-great-grandniece. White, an orphan from Accomack, Va., was a student in the preparatory school at Columbia College, now George Washington University, when he died, researchers said. He was buried in the college cemetery after his death from lobar pneumonia on Jan. 24, 1852; his remains were somehow left behind when the cemetery was later moved. Dwyer said she visited the Smithsonian a few weeks ago, although she wasn't able to see White's body. "They wouldn't let me see the remains," she said. "I did see the casket and his clothes. But they made it clear ahead of time I wasn't going to see him. He's pretty nasty. He's been autopsied." [Image]The revelation about her connection to White has led to a host of other news about Dwyer's family. White, researchers learned, was descended from Anthony West, one of the original Jamestown settlers. And, Dwyer added, "the Smithsonian found a whole bunch of cousins I didn't know I had." Deborah Hull-Walski, an anthropologist and genealogy researcher at the Smithsonian, said feelings ran high when White's first living descendant was found. "Linda was our fourth try. Every single person I talked to, it was the same reaction. They were all interested and wanted to know more," she said. Hull-Walski and a colleague visited Dwyer Aug. 1 and, sitting in a Denny's restaurant, took a DNA swab from Dwyer's mouth. The DNA was compared in State College to a sample taken from White's shin. "There was a great deal of elation (when the DNA match was confirmed)," Hull-Walski said. "We felt we had been entrusted with a responsibility to determine his identity," she said. "It was important to continue the effort. So when we did find out who he was, it was really a feeling both of elation and relief." The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children also got involved, using photographs of the mummified remains and a tomography scan of the skull to construct an approximation of White's face at the time of his death. "We have a photograph of Linda and a photograph of William, and you can see it. You can see a family resemblance," Hull-Walski said. The work isn't over, she added. Researchers are still looking for more living relatives, she said, and are also trying to get a better feel for White's place in history. "We feel like we have a good understanding of his family, who his father and mother were, his siblings and their children," Hull-Walski said. "But we'd like to know more. We get the feeling he was a very special child. He was well-liked by his fellow students and he was esteemed by his professors." The research, which involved a team of more than three dozen people, helped Hull-Walski create a family tree for White that included 788 people and filled a wall in her lab. "We're trying now to expand his story and place him in that time period," she added. "We want to know more about his life." David Hunt, a forensic anthropologist with the Smithsonian, was the first person called when the casket was found. He said he didn't have high hopes in 2005 that the boy's identity would ever be learned. "For somebody that was from a period this early, probably not. It was an unknown entity," he said. "It was a pretty cold case, and the tracks were going to be pretty hard to follow." The anthropology team first studied the casket itself and the location where it was found, he said. Only later did work begin on the body itself. Pieces of White's identity came together bit by bit, he said. For instance, the state of his teeth and the growth of his bones helped them pinpoint his age in his mid-teens. The elegant iron Fisk & Raymond casket, which was patented in 1848, helped to determine the time of his death, as did the style of the clothing -- a white burial suit including a pleated shirt, a vest with cloth-covered buttons, flared trousers, darned socks and ankle-length underdrawers -- he was wearing. Researchers said White's remains were well preserved because of the airtight seal on the casket. They also discovered White had congenital heart disease -- a ventricular septum defect, or hole in his heart, that could have contributed to his early death. He was just over 5 feet tall. The forensics team also studied census records, newspaper obituaries and other public documents in its efforts to trace White's identity, Hunt said. Various possibilities for the boy were considered and rejected as lines of investigation were ruled out. Dwyer said Thursday that, as White's closest living relative, "it's possible that the decision about his burial will end up in my lap." Hull-Walski said her team will certainly work with any surviving family members, as well as George Washington University, to make arrangements for the body's final disposition. "The boy was originally supposed to go to Oak Hill Cemetery, since that's where all of the other bodies went when they moved the cemetery in 1866," Hunt added. Hull-Walski said her team is still trying to figure out why White's remains were left behind when the cemetery was moved. "It's a possibility that something had happened to his headstone," she said, noting that two military hospitals sprawled over the site during the Civil War. "But I don't think we're ever going to know why."

From William Taylor White's obituary.

Thus is cut off, in the morning of his days, one in whom many hopes were centred—and who had the fairest prospects of happiness and usefulness in life."—Excerpt from White's obituary, published Feb. 8, 1852, in the Religious Herald newspaper (Richmond, Va.).