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. 2, Jan. 15, 2008

 

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Copyright © 2008 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 Southeastern U.S. This Month

** Trip to England in 2009

** Graves Families of SC, GA, AL & AR

** Changes to the GFA Website

** A New Resource for Finding Your English Ancestors Online

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

 

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GENERAL COMMENTS

 

As Sarah and I prepare for our annual trip to Florida, I have been thinking about how we can get more people interested and involved with their Graves/Greaves family history and the Graves Family Association.  One result of that is the series of gatherings we will be having on our way south, as discussed in the following article.  We would also like to have more of you sign up for the 2009 trip to England, discussed in the second article.

 

Other initiatives, including activities of the GFA Regional Chapters, and changes and additions to the website, will be discussed in future bulletins.

 

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GRAVES FAMILY MEETINGS IN SOUTHEASTERN U.S. THIS MONTH

 

The following meetings are now scheduled for the last week in January.  I will be the speaker at all the events.  These will be small meetings with plenty of opportunity to ask questions and discuss your Graves (or Greaves) family and ancestry with me and the other attendees.  I hope to see as many of you there as possible.  No matter what your Graves/Greaves ancestry is, you are cordially invited to attend.  I will also have some DNA testing kits with me, so any men with the Graves surname will be able to take a Y-DNA test at the meeting.

 

(1) Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008, noon to 3:00 p.m., at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, VA.  This will be a regular meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the GFA.  There will be a light buffet in the meeting room as attendees assemble.  Ken Graves will talk about “Graves and Greaves Families from Europe to America: What we know and what we need to find”.  For more information, contact John Graves at 443-542-2860 (work), 410-867-6758 (home), or at johngtmti@aol.com.

 

(2) Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008, 12 noon-2:30 p.m., Yancey House Restaurant, 699 US Highway 158 West Yanceyville, Caswell Co., NC, phone 339-694-4225.  The gathering will start with attendees ordering brunch from the New Orleans Jazz Brunch menu (items ranging from $2.00 to $25.00).  After the conversation during the brunch, there will be an informal presentation and Q&A.

The heart of YanceyVillage is the Bartlett Yancey House built in 1807 by one of North Carolina's greatest and most beloved statesmen. The home sits on a spacious 153-acre estate west of Yanceyville and is surrounded by the original smokehouse, a Federal period law office, and probably the largest tobacco barn in North Carolina. East of the house is the Yancey family graveyard, where Bartlett Yancey and his descendents are buried.  The house was opened in Nov. 2006 as the Yancey House Restaurant.

This is actually the house of Bartlett Yancey, Jr., born 19 Feb. 1785 and died in 1828, son of Bartlett Yancey and Ann Graves (daughter of John Graves and Isabella Lea).  He married his cousin, Nancy Graves, daughter of John Herndon Graves and Nancy Slade.  Among his accomplishments, he was speaker of the NC State Senate and a member of the U.S. Congress, 1813-1817.  This is a branch of the part of the Capt. Thomas Graves of VA family (gen. 169) nominally descended through John2, Thomas3, John4, but actually from Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, England (gen. 47), which is my line and also that of Clark Graves who is helping to organize this meeting.

Contact Ken Graves for more information.

 

(3) Tuesday, Jan. 29, 7:00 p.m., Charlotte, NC, at the home of Will Graves, 211 Towill Place, Charlotte, NC 28211.  This is in southeastern Charlotte.  Turning off Randolph Rd. onto North Canterbury Rd., Towill Place is the first road on the left, and 211 is on the corner.

 

(4) Thursday, Jan. 31, 7:00- 8:30 p.m., in the Henderson Room, 2nd floor, Main Library, Leon County Public Library, 200 West Park Ave., Tallahassee, FL, phone 850-606-2615.  The library has a parking lot accessible from Call St. and Duvall St.

 

For more information about any of these gatherings, contact Ken Graves at 508-384-8084 (until Jan. 25) or 508-364-5217 (cell phone, from Jan. 25 and after), or email ken.graves@gravesfa.org.

 

The Graves gathering in Auburn, AL, tentatively scheduled for this March, will not be held.  It may be rescheduled for March 2009.

 

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TRIP TO ENGLAND IN 2009

 

If there is a possibility that you may want to go on our tour of England in 2009, please let me know as soon as you can.  The following paragraphs describe the trip.  Although many people have already told us of their interest, the response has not been as high as we would like to see.  I would very much appreciate any comments and suggestions about what might make you want to go with us.  Would you prefer a different time of year?  Are there particular places you want to go?  Are there certain activities you would like to have included?  Is there anything else that would make you want to go on the tour?  It is not too late to make changes, but time is growing short!

 

The trip is planned for May or June of next year (2009), and will be about 12 days, starting from and ending in London.  The cost will probably be only slightly more than the trip in 1995, which was about $2,400 per person (not including air transportation to and from England).  More information about that trip can be seen on the GFA website under Activities/Recent Events.

 

We will be visiting places of scenic and historical interest, as well as places of significance to your ancestors.  This will not be a research trip, and we do not plan to schedule time in archives and libraries, although you always have the option to go off on your own for a day.  In the 2009 tour, we will be visiting a few of the same places as in 1995, but in no way will this be a repeat of that trip.  The present plans are for the tour to include Keswick and the beautiful Lake District, the Hertford/Nazeing area, York, Lincolnshire, and London.  We are also considering visiting other places including King’s Norton and Moseley Hall (now part of Birmingham), Mickleton, Beeley, and Buckingham.  Meetings with members of the various Graves and Greaves families will be an important part of the tour.  See also the discussion on the website under Activities/Future Events.

 

One of the big advantages of this trip will be that many of us now know where in England our ancestors were from, and some of the various Graves and Greaves families that are related.  You will probably get to meet distant relatives you never knew existed.

 

If you live in the U.K. or Ireland and would like to join us, that would be great!  If you live there and might like to help organize a meeting with local Graves/Greaves/Grieve family members as part of our tour, please let me know.  No matter where you live, if you have any strong feelings about places we should visit, let me know that also.

 

A link to a response form to let us know of your interest is in the first paragraph in the “What’s New” section of the main page of the GFA website.  There is also a link at the end of the sidebar section for “Next Events”.  If you have any problem with the form, just send me an email with your name, address, likely number in your group, and whether you might be interested in an optional add-on tour of Ireland and/or Scotland.

 

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GRAVES FAMILIES OF SC, GA, AL & AR

 

A new DNA test result has just been reported for genealogy 381, William Graves and Mary Shaver of SC, GA & AL.  It is an exact 12 of 12 match with genealogies 48, 78, 189, 258 and 920.  We still need a descendant of genealogy 955 (Jeremiah Alexander Graves) to be tested, since it is believed that family is probably also part of this group.  An even more important need is to find someone in England whose DNA matches this group.

 

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CHANGES TO THE GFA WEBSITE

 

The Charts page has been considerably changed.  It has now been expanded to include almost all genealogies.  The only ones not included are the ones not yet created, and those that do not start with a person having the Graves/Greaves surname.  This is now a good place to go to see a numerical listing of the genealogies, to see the approximate birth date of the earliest ancestor in each genealogy, and to be able to access both the genealogies and the charts (where they exist).  A major feature of the page continues to be the section in the lower part of the page where related genealogies are grouped together, and charts showing the probable connections can be accessed.

 

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A NEW RESOURCE FOR FINDING YOUR ENGLISH ANCESTORS ONLINE

 

The most recent issue of Eastman’s Online Genealogical Newsletter, Jan. 14, 2008, noted an interesting new resource to help find English ancestors online.

 

A group of professional genealogists in Salt Lake City recently released a list of its 500+ favorite English websites used to solve family history riddles titled Expert Links: English Family History and Genealogy. The site is available free to the public.

 

Price & Associates, Inc. is a team of professional genealogists. The company has now produced an exhaustive list of web links, divided into categories such as baptism, marriage, and burial indexes, occupations, religious sources, military records, emigration lists, and more. Most links lead to databases nationwide or countywide in scope. Sites requiring fees are distinguished by color.  There is no charge to view Price & Associates' list of links at http://www.pricegen.com/english_genealogy.html.  You can learn more about the company and its professional services at www.pricegen.com.

 

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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.