GRAVES FAMILY BULLETIN

 

A Free, Occasional, Online Summary of Items of Interest to Descendants of all Families of Graves, Greaves, Grieves, Grave, and other spelling variations Worldwide

 

Vol. 10, No. 1, Jan. 2, 2008

 

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Copyright © 2007 by the Graves Family Association and Kenneth V. Graves.  All rights reserved.

 

Information on how to start a free subscription to this bulletin and how to be removed from the subscription list is at the end of this bulletin.  If you received this bulletin directly, then you are already subscribed.

 

Visit the GFA web site at https://gravesfa.org

 

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CONTENTS:

 

** General Comments

** Graves Family Meetings In the Near Future

** Greaves Family of Stepney, London, England, and Descendants of Rear Adm. Thomas Graves of Charlestown, MA

** How to Help Expand the Genealogies on the GFA Website

** Capt. Thomas Graves of Virginia

** Grave/Graves families of Cambridgeshire, Cumbria/Cumberland, and Lancashire, England

** Changes to the GFA Website

** Looking at Copies of the Graves Family Bulletin on the GFA Website

** Another U.S. President With Graves Ancestry

** Graves Descendant Mic Barnette to Speak in Dallas, Texas

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

 

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GENERAL COMMENTS

 

The year 2007 was one of continued progress for the Graves Family Association.  Despite my frustration at not being able to do some things (such as creating some new website features) and moving too slowly on others, we have made great strides in connecting various parts of the Graves and Greaves families through research and DNA testing.  Some of our discoveries and conclusions are discussed in this issue of the bulletin.

 

I am also looking forward to meeting some of you at our meetings in the next couple of months in the southeastern U.S., and others of you in Texas this summer.  Then in 2009, I hope as many of you as possible sign up for our tour of England.  Those of you who live in England will have an opportunity to meet with us and discover some distant American cousins.

 

My best wishes to all of you for a happy and successful New Year!

 

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GRAVES FAMILY MEETINGS IN THE NEAR FUTURE

 

I asked in the last newsletter for help in scheduling meetings on our way to Florida in late January.  The only meeting that is definite at this time is that for the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the GFA on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008, noon to 3:00 p.m., at the Army Navy Club in Arlington, VA.

 

For the next day, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008, we have been trying to schedule a meeting in Yanceyville, Caswell Co., NC.  If that can’t be arranged within the next couple of days, I will try to arrange a meeting in Roanoke, VA, or in the Greensboro or Winston-Salem areas of NC for Sunday afternoon.  I am also considering evening meetings in other locations such as Charlotte, NC, and Macon, GA.  If anyone is interested in helping organize a meeting in the southeastern U.S. for the last week of January, please contact me as soon as possible.

 

Then, in March 2008, there will be a Graves gathering in Auburn, AL, on March 8.  More details will be announced on the website and in this bulletin.

 

Sometime this summer, Sarah and I will be in Texas again, and I am hoping there will be a meeting of the Southwest Chapter of the GFA that we may be able to attend.

 

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GREAVES FAMILY OF STEPNEY, LONDON, ENGLAND, AND DESCENDANTS OF REAR ADM. THOMAS GRAVES OF CHARLESTOWN, MA

 

This family is part of the largest group of Graves/Greaves families descended from a common ancestor.  If you look at the master table of DNA test results, you can see that the last large blue group in the table is by far the largest.  Likewise, on the charts page of the website, the long list of related families can be seen, and the summary charts show the possible connections.

 

In America, some of the families that have been proven to descend from a common ancestor include those of Rear Admiral Thomas Graves of Charlestown, MA (gen. 28) (who as a ship captain brought over Gov. Winthrop and many other early settlers of New England), John Graves of Concord, MA (gen. 166), John Greaves of St. Mary’s Co., MD (gen. 247), Lt. William Graves of Nova Scotia, Canada (gen. 238), Francis Graves of VA (gen. 220), the Graves families of Randolph Co., NC, etc.

 

I have now combined the genealogy for Rear Adm. Thomas Graves (gen. 28), that of the Greaves family of Stepney (gen. 28A), and that of John Graves of Stepney (gen. 28B).  They are all now genealogy 28, and the chart of this family has been updated to reflect the change.  Ancestors and descendants of this genealogy need to be searched for in England in wills, church records, etc.  This is one way to find how other parts of the family (such as John Graves of Concord, MA, and the Greaves family of Beeley, Derbyshire) connect.

 

In spite of the importance of this part of the family, less is known about it than about many other families.  A relatively small number of descendants of Rear Admiral Thomas Graves is known.  One reason may be that many of them may have been loyal to the King during the American Revolution, moving to Canada or even back to England.  The records in Canada are more difficult to search (for instance, most of the census records are not readily available on the internet), and fewer family trees have been posted for families in England on internet sites such as Ancestry.com.  Only 3 DNA tests have been conducted for genealogy 28, and 2 of those are for descendants of Lebbeus Graves (b.c. 1768).

 

One of the samples (74347) from a Lebbeus Graves descendant exactly matches the first 37 markers of a sample from genealogy 697 (Charles Graves and Elizabeth Ephland of MO, AR & TX).  These are the only samples in a very large group that have a mutation of 12 at marker 26.  Both gen. 697 samples need to be upgraded to 67 markers to see whether they still match.  (79709 is 37 markers, and 1351 is only 25 markers.)  Also, descendants of Lebbeus Graves should do research to try to find whether and where gen. 697 connects, perhaps working with the gen. 697 family members.

 

Finally, more DNA tests are needed for descendants of this family in England.  This includes descendants of the family of Stepney (gen. 28), the Greaves family of Beeley, Derbyshire (gen. 228), and the Greaves family of Macclesfield, Cheshire (gen. 334).  The samples we have for gen. 334 (1441, 12 markers) and for gen. 228 (45963, 37 markers) should be upgraded to 67 markers so that we can better use them for comparison purposes against present and future samples.

 

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HOW TO HELP EXPAND THE GENEALOGIES ON THE GFA WEBSITE

 

Elvin Ogg of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan has been working on finding all descendants of his ancestors, Asa Graves (b. 1755) and Roxanne Ottman, descended from Rear Adm. Thomas Graves (genealogy 28).  Recently, he sent all his updates and corrections for inclusion in the genealogy.  He also sent a genealogy of all descendants of Elisha Graves (born about 1820 in NY) and Julia A. Mayhew, who moved to Genesee Co., Michigan.  He thinks this family may also be descended from Rear Adm. Thomas Graves,  If anyone can help, please let Elvin or me know.

 

We would like to have more of you actively researching your family, compiling the information, and sharing it with the rest of us.  Dr. Thomas (“Tom”) L. Graves of Gulfport, Mississippi, has done a similar job for part of genealogy 169 (Capt. Thomas Graves of VA), and many others have done similar research over the years for various parts of their families.  Whether the scope of your research is large or small, everything helps.  If any of you would like to do more but have questions about how to do that, or if you have any ideas about how to increase interest in gathering information about your family, please let me know.

 

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CAPT. THOMAS GRAVES OF VIRGINIA

 

The test result for DNA sample #3699 was previously in the genealogy and charts as descended from Thomas2.  It has now been moved to where it belongs as a descendant of Thomas5, Rice6, on all charts.  Also, other updates have been made to the charts.

 

There has been much discussion over the past year or so about who Capt. Thomas Graves really was and who his children and descendants were.  We still don’t know the complete answer to that.  However, based on evidence from the DNA study, I have already removed the line of Francis Graves from genealogy 169 and made it into a separate genealogy 220.  I will be doing a similar thing for the descendants of John2, Thomas3, John4 soon, since it has been apparent for some time that they are almost certainly not descended from Capt. Thomas Graves.  I wanted to wait to make all changes until we had proof that could not be reasonably argued with.  However, it will undoubtedly be a long time before we have that level of proof.  Your research and other help is still very much needed.

 

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GRAVE/GRAVES FAMILIES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE, , CUMBRIA/CUMBERLAND, AND LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND

 

Our DNA study (as seen on the charts page of the website) has shown the relationship between the families of Cambridgeshire, Lancashire, and Cumbria.

 

In searching in the International Genealogical Index (IGI, on the LDS FamilySearch.org website) for a Leonard Graves of Cumberland, born in the late 1700’s, it was interesting to see that all the entries in the 1500’s were in Cambridgeshire, and all those for the 1700’s and 1800’s were in Cumberland.  This would seem to suggest a possible migration from Cambridgeshire to Lancashire and Cumberland.  The same thing was found for Robert Graves, where the IGI gave the name in the 1500’s and 1600’s in Cambridgeshire, and in the 1700’s and 1800’s in Cumberland.

 

However, this could also be partly explained by a change in spelling from Grave to Graves in Cambridgeshire, and incomplete records in the IGI.  The Grave name certainly was in Cumbria in the 1500’s (as shown on chart377.pdf and DNAchart116-summary.pdf).

 

So far we only have one family of Lancashire (genealogy 374), one family of Cumbria (gen. 377, John Grave and Elizabeth Fisher), and one family of Cambridgeshire (gen. 683, Thomas Graves and Ann ------) with descendants who have taken part in the DNA study.  We need others to participate.  The sample for gen. 374 only has 12 markers and we need to increase that to 37 markers, since 12 markers really aren’t enough to be sure of where it belongs.

 

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CHANGES TO THE GFA WEBSITE

 

Some of the pages that are constantly being updated are:

·        New news stories continue to be added to the Current News page of the website, accessible from the History/News tab. The latest one is about a Graves family in Cumbria, England.

·        The genealogies (accessible from the Charts page and the Alphabetical Ancestor Listing page) and the charts.

·        The master DNA test results page at www.gravesfa.org/DNA_test_results.html.

 

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LOOKING AT COPIES OF THE GRAVES FAMILY BULLETIN ON THE GFA WEBSITE

 

Anyone who misses a copy of this bulletin or who wants to look at previous issues of the bulletin can always read any issue by going to the GFA website.  Once there, click on the Products tab at the top of the page.  Then click on the link for Bulletin, and scroll down the page to the particular issue you want to look at.

 

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ANOTHER U.S. PRESIDENT WITH GRAVES ANCESTRY

 

The page on the GFA website for notable Graves/Greaves descendants lists former U.S. president Grover Cleveland, descended from genealogy 168.  Now, to that we can add (John) Calvin Coolidge, descended from genealogy 28.  The line of descent is:

Thomas Graves m. Katharine Gray
 .Samuel Adams m. Rebecca Graves
  .Susanna Adams m. Daniel Waldo
   .Bethia Waldo m. Edmund Littlefield
    .Esther Littlefield m. Samuel Soper
     .Esther Soper m. Silas Briggs
      .Asa Briggs m. Elizabeth Paul
       .Sally Briggs m. Israel Putnam Brown 
        .Sally Brown m. Israel C Brewer
         .Sarah Almeda Brewer m. Calvin Galusha Coolidge
          .John Calvin Coolidge m. Victoria Josephine Moor
           .John CALVIN COOLIDGE (1872-1933), US President

 

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GRAVES DESCENDANT MIC BARNETTE TO SPEAK IN DALLAS, TEXAS

 

The Dallas Genealogical Society will host an all day (Genealogical) Technology Day Conference on Saturday January 26, 2008 at the Dallas Public Library 1515 Young Street Dallas Texas 75201 (according to a notice from ISOGG, the International Society of Genetic Genealogy).

 

One of the speakers on Technology Day will be ISOGG member Mic Barnette.  Mic is descended from Francis Graves of VA (genealogy 220) through Jane Graves who married John Coffey.  Mic will speak on DNA Testing for Genealogists. He will also be the luncheon speaker reflecting on the Long Genealogical Journey to Here, a lighthearted talk about how genealogical research has changed since the 1960's to present.

 

Technology Day is an annual venue of the Dallas Genealogical Society. It features lectures and demonstrations throughout the day on all types of genealogically oriented hardware and software and their use. For more information, visit the DGS website at www.dallasgenealogy.com and click on events.

 

After the long day of the conference DGS is sponsoring a Library Lock-in. The Lock-in begins at 6 PM and goes to about 2 AM. During the evening only genealogists are in the library where they may visit with other genealogists and utilize the library's extraordinary genealogical collection.

 

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ABOUT THIS BULLETIN:

This bulletin is written and edited by Kenneth V. Graves, ken.graves@gravesfa.org.  Ken Graves was also editor of the Graves Family Newsletter (no longer published).  This bulletin will contain announcements and news of special interest to Graves descendants with Internet access.  It will not contain queries, genealogies, photos, and the kind of in-depth articles that used to appear in the Graves Family Newsletter.

 

TO SUBMIT MATERIAL TO THIS BULLETIN:

Send any material you would like to have included in this bulletin to ken.graves@gravesfa.org.  The editor reserves the right to accept, edit or reject any material submitted.

 

TO JOIN THE GRAVES FAMILY ASSOCIATION:

If you do not already belong to the GFA, you can join by sending $20 per year to Graves Family Association, 20 Binney Circle, Wrentham, MA 02093 (more details on GFA website).  Payment may also be sent electronically via PayPal by going to www.paypal.com and sending payment to gfa@gravesfa.org.  Benefits include access to the “members only” section of the website, membership directory, and help with learning more about your Graves/Greaves family.  The purpose of the GFA is to bring together as many descendants as possible to work toward learning more about the Graves/Greaves families, to help other descendants, and to instill pride in our ancestry.

 

COPYRIGHTS:

Although the contents of this bulletin are copyrighted by the Graves Family Association and Kenneth V. Graves, you are hereby granted rights, unless otherwise specified, to re-distribute articles to other parties for non-commercial purposes only.  Do not re-distribute the newsletter in its entirety.

 

TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE TO THIS BULLETIN:

To subscribe to this bulletin, send an e-mail message to ken.graves@gravesfa.org.  Please include your full name.  Your postal mailing address and information on your Graves/Greaves ancestry would also be appreciated, although not essential.

 

To remove your name from this subscription list, send an e-mail message to ken.graves@gravesfa.org asking to be removed.