Blog - Gray Stabley Genealogy Services

My Love Of Learning

School just started back this week and it made me think of how much I loved to learn (and still do).

I remember getting excited for the first day and seeing all my friends again. When we were young, my mom would take us to Sears to buy several new outfits for the year. I think the brand was called Lemon Tree, but it was more like Garanimals where you matched the tags to put the pieces of the outfit together. Anyway, it was a fun time of year. I seem to get that same type of excitement now that I’m studying genealogy. Just for giggles, here I am in the 3rd grade…

There is always something new to learn and so many ways to learn it…webinars, journals, podcasts, conferences, institutes, and classes. I’ve tried them all and LOVE them all!

Currently, I’m enrolled in the ProGen Study Group, a 15-month course based on the book “Professional Genealogy,” edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills.¹

So far I have learned how to give constructive and valuable feedback (it’s harder than it seems), how to transcribe and abstract documents, and how to cite sources. In genealogy being able to get back to a source you used or how to show someone else how to find it is very important. Citing your sources also shows the scope of your research and that you have exhausted every avenue looking for answers. It is one of the factors that take you from a hobby genealogist to a more serious one.

At the beginning of the summer, I learned about evidence analysis. Starting with a research question (what you want to know), you look at the sources you have found and analyze them. You are noting any background information needed regarding laws and customs of the time, etc., and looking at the source itself. Is it an original source or was it derived from an original source? If possible, you want to look at as many original documents as we can.

Next, examine the information the source is giving us. Is it primary where the informant had firsthand knowledge of the event or is it secondary where the information was of the secondhand variety? Sometimes you don’t know what kind of information it is because the informant is unknown! Most census records are classified as undetermined information because they don’t reveal who the informant was.

The last thing we are looking at is the type of evidence we have found. Does it directly answer our research question? Or does it give us a clue and we still need to look elsewhere?

You may think, now what do I do with all of this? YOU WRITE!!

For the past 2 months, the assignment has been to write and rewrite a research report. After the first report was turned in, I received valuable feedback from my peers. I took those suggestions and rewrote the report. Feedback is the primary tool used in the ProGen Study Group. It’s how we all learn from one another and gain insight into other methods of reaching our goals.

Writing, in general, is key to improving your genealogy skills. When you write you make connections that you wouldn’t otherwise. Your brain is engaged in the process and you start asking better questions that lead to finding the answers you seek. I am still a math girl, but writing is a mandatory element of good genealogical practices.

If you’re interested in the ProGen Study group, go to https://progenstudygroups.com/ for more information.

Genealogy Tip: Make an education plan. Do you want to take a class, listen to a podcast on a regular basis, or perhaps go to a conference or institute? All will help you further your education and make you a better, more efficient genealogist.

Learning anything will make you a better genealogist, but if you hit a snag, I’m here to help.

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¹ Elizabeth Shown Mills, editor, Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2018).

Granny’s Wedding Day

What better way to resurrect a blog than with a wedding?

On this day (May 29th) in 1919 my great-grandmother, Effie Eans Dennis married for the second time to Edwin Loy Rankin. Granny, as everyone called her, first married Samuel Patrick Donahoo, M.D. in 1893, but after only 12 years of marriage and 5 children, he died.

Effie Eans Dennis Donahoo Rankin – photo in possession of author

“Tennessee, U.S., Marriage Records, 1780-2002,” entry for Edmond Loy Rankin and Effie Donaho, 29 May 1919, database with images, 121 of 579, *Ancestry* (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/6190768:1169? : accessed 29 May 2022); “Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002,” *Tennessee State Library and Archives*, Jefferson County, 1917 Sep – 1924 Feb: Marriages 6-7, p. 234.

Granny was the second of five children born to Henry G. Dennis and Harriet Isabella Ashmore on 22 July 1876 in Jefferson City, Tennessee. She and E. Loy spent most of their married life in Jefferson City, but by 1950 they had moved to Knoxville and built their home on Speedway Circle. My mom remembers going there often as a child as it was less than half a mile from her house on Alma Avenue. My grandfather was a building contractor at the time and owned the company that built this house. That’s definitely keeping it in the family!

Granny in front of her home on Speedway Circle – The back of the picture says over 2″ of snow fell.

E. Loy had many jobs during his lifetime including farming. When Granny went to work it was as a dressmaker at Zirkle’s Department Store in Jefferson City. I’m sure this pair of scissors cut many yards of fabric over time…

E. Loy died on Valentine’s Day in 1955. Granny lived another 12 years, passing in November 1967. I was only 4 years old at the time and don’t remember her except through pictures and stories. But, in the end, isn’t that all we have anyway?

Genealogy Tip: Write, Write, Write! Stories are meant to be told. It may only be for your files, but that’s okay.

If you are interested in having someone research for you, I’d love to hear about your latest project. Just click below to get started.

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Valentine’s Day: A Love Story For The Ages

Valentine’s Day isn’t just about cards and chocolates, right? Remember those little cards we used to pass around in grade school? Or as we got older, maybe it was a box of chocolates, some flowers, or a fancy dinner out.

Now, my grandparents? They took Valentine’s Day to a whole other level.

My grandfather, Owen Elmer McKamey, and my grandmother, Pauline Chalmers Donahoo McKamey were my mom’s parents and the kindest, most loving people you could imagine. Mama and G-da, as we affectionately called them, lived in Knoxville, Tennessee most of their lives, but their love story started in Jefferson City, Tennessee in the next county over.

G-da was studying to be a teacher at Carson-Newman College (which is a university now), while Mama worked at a dime store nearby. Guess what happened? Yep, classic story—a guy walks into the store, and suddenly, hearts start skipping beats. This was back in the 1920s, mind you. They were head over heels but broke. They had to wait until November 1930 to tie the knot. It should come as no surprise that the 1931 song “I Found A Million Dollar Baby (at a 5 and 10 cent store)” became “their song”.

Now, about that telegram! I can’t pin down the exact date, but I’m thinking it was somewhere in the 1930s. Apparently, according to a blog post I stumbled upon from The Postal Museum, (https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/greetings-from-the-post-office/), those telegrams were popular back then. And funny enough, by that time G-da was working at a post office. He didn’t finish college due to family responsibilities, but his job might’ve helped him figure out what to get her.

The wording of the telegram was pure G-da. He was a Christian man who held every post in the Presbyterian Church except minister. He loved his “Polly”, with a full heart and I know she felt exactly the same way about him.

After Valentine’s, when the chocolates are devoured, the flowers fade, and the dinner becomes a fond memory, it’s things like that telegram that stick around. They’re family heirlooms after all, aren’t they? The kind of stuff that inspires a granddaughter to write her very first blog post.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Genealogy Tip: I didn’t know any of this before talking with my mom. Chat with the older generation and get their stories. Write them down or even better, record them. And don’t forget to write down or record your story for future generations.

Do you need help finding these nuggets of information about your family? I’d love to dig into your ancestry with you!

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