GRAVES FAMILY
BULLETIN
Vol. 17, No. 4, May
11, 2015
A
Free, Occasional, Online Summary of Items of Interest to Descendants of all
Families of Graves, Greaves, Grieves, Grave, and other spelling variations
Worldwide
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Copyright
© 2015 by the Graves Family Association and Kenneth V. Graves. All rights reserved.
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CONTENTS
**
General Comments
**
GFA Facebook Group
**
Nomenclature That Needs to be Clarified
**
Confusion About Two Men Named Asa Graves
**
Ancestry Launches Genealogy Video Courses
**
23andMe Making Progress With Medical DNA Testing
** Updates to the GFA Website
** Common Misconceptions in Genealogy and American
Culture
**
More About Using Wikipedia As An Information Source
**
Roots Revealed Blog for Help With African-American Research
**
Jimmy Greaves, English Football Idol, Suffers Stroke
**
Graves/Greaves Family Members With Native American Ancestry
**
To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things
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GENERAL COMMENTS
New
information about our Graves and Greaves families continues to be revealed
constantly, as does new information on using DNA testing and analysis to get
beyond that proverbial Òbrick wall.Ó
This issue of the GF Bulletin contains some articles on subject that I
found interesting. I hope they are
helpful to you.
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GFA FACEBOOK GROUP
GROWTH OF GROUP MEMBERSHIP
The
Graves Family Association group on Facebook continues to grow, with membership
now in excess of 1,400.
MULTIPLE GRAVES/GREAVES
ANCESTRAL LINES
Concetta
Phillipps (one of our Facebook group administrators) has setup a new file for
group members to record multiple Graves/Greaves lines of descent. It can be reached by group members here
or by clicking on Files at the top of the GFA Facebook page and then clicking
on ÒAre you a Graves Double?.Ó
There has been some discussion about what it means to have multiple
Graves/Greaves lines of descent; it may mean descent from more than one genealogy
or more than one genealogy group, or it could mean descent from a
Graves/Greaves ancestor without regard to whether the lines are within the same
genealogy or in different genealogies.
The consensus seems to be that it is interesting to find ancestral
lines, especially multiple ancestral lines, and the exact criteria for those
lines really doesnÕt matter. Most
of the people with multiple lines have them from cousins marrying, within the
same genealogy; the only exceptions I saw were Judith Graves descended from
both gen. 85 and gen. 169 (she is also descended from gen. 270), and Ron Graves
listed in the next paragraph.
ANOTHER FILE SHOWING
MULTIPLE ANCESTRAL LINES AND MORE
It
amazes me sometimes how difficult it is to make information available to people
who can benefit from it. In the
file section of the GFA Facebook group and also on the GFA website are
spreadsheets for ÒGFA Facebook Group MembersÓ sorted by name, by genealogy
group, and by residence. The most
recent one of these is March 20, 2014, because few people seemed to be
interested, so I stopped taking the time to update them. In addition to including information
about people with ancestry from more than one genealogy, these spreadsheets
have much additional information, including place living and place born. When I quickly skimmed through the file
of Facebook group members by name, for those descended from more than one
genealogy, I saw:
¥
Peter Grace, gen. 28 and 168
¥
Ron Graves, TX, gen. 13 and 270
¥
Sandra Hunter, CA, gen. 104 and 179
¥
Sharon Boyd Jung, TX, gen. 148, 220
¥
Katherine King, VA, gen. 169, 270
¥
Brenda Graves Prefling, AZ, gen. 13, 105, and 270
¥
David Robertson, Mexico, gen. 270 and 835
¥
John Earl Spencer, CA, gen. 169, 270
There
are undoubtedly more, especially since many people in our Facebook group havenÕt
told me who they are or what their Graves/Greaves ancestry is. With many names the same or similar, it
is difficult to figure out who is who on Facebook. In the file of group members, some help can come from where
they live. The most positive
identification, however, is the last column for GFA ID No., which is included
for anyone who has corresponded with me and sent me information (which causes
me to create a file folder and a numbered database record).
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NOMENCLATURE THAT NEEDS TO BE CLARIFIED
A
frequent source of confusion among descendants of our various Graves and
Greaves families is the meaning of a few of the abbreviations and terms that
are used. For example, genealogy
169 is for the descendants of Capt. Thomas Graves of Virginia, and is usually
abbreviated gen. 169. This is not
generation 169; it is unfortunate that genealogy and generation start with the
same letters. This has even been
confused with the identification (ID) number of an individual within a
genealogy. As a reminder, the
description of these three numbers is below.
¥
Genealogy number: This is an arbitrary number assigned to be able to
easily refer and identify a genealogy (which can also be thought of as a
family). A genealogy contains
multiple generations and multiple descendants of the earliest known ancestor. A genealogy number will never change
unless it is found to be part of another genealogy, in which case it is added
to that genealogy.
¥
Generation number: This is the number within a genealogy that
identifies the distance from the earliest proven ancestor. For example, if the earliest known
ancestor in the genealogy for your family is your great-grandfather, then he is
generation 1, his children (your grandparent) is generation 2, his
grandchildren (your parent) is generation 3, and you are generation 4.
¥
Identification number: Each descendant within a genealogy is assigned a
sequential ID number. As people
are added to or removed from the genealogy, subsequent ID numbers will change.
===============================================================
CONFUSION ABOUT TWO MEN NAMED ASA GRAVES
Mrs.
Virginia Partch is descended from Asa Graves, Jr., born 1797 in VT, who first
married Aurilla Gilbert, and then married Mrs. Angeline Trumbull (her
ancestor), whose maiden name was Wilson.
This Asa Graves is #702, son of Asa Graves (373) and Roxana Ottman, in
genealogy 28 for Rear Admiral Thomas Graves of Charlestown, MA. However, I recently became aware that
there is some confusion between this family and one in genealogy 168 for Thomas
Graves of Hartford, CT. In
genealogy 168, there is an Asa Graves (620) who married Roxana Graves (not
Ottman) with the same date of birth as Asa Graves (373) in gen. 28, both listed
as born 4 Nov. 1755. It is likely
that the date of birth listed is the one for #620 and that the date for #373 is
unknown, but I donÕt know for sure.
Can anyone help?
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ANCESTRY LAUNCHES GENEALOGY VIDEO COURSES
On
April 22, Ancestry made the following announcement: ÒAncestry, the worldÕs
leading family history service, has launched Ancestry Academy, a new
educational resource that offers high-quality video instruction from family
history and genealogy experts. Covering a wide range of topics of interest in
family history research, including Native American ancestry, online US census
research, and DNA testing, this new educational content will help anyone, no
matter their knowledge, better research and understand their familyÕs unique
history.Ó
For more information, click here.
===============================================================
23ANDME MAKING PROGRESS WITH MEDICAL DNA TESTING
On
Feb. 20, Matthew Herper of Forbes magazine wrote an article titled ÒWhat
23andMeÕs FDA Approval Means For The Future Of Genomics.Ó This is a positive step for 23andMeÕs
DNA testing for health and medical purposes, but it continues to be obvious
that genetic genealogy is only a sideline for them to attract people to their
medical testing business. The
article in Forbes stated: ÒLast night, the Food and Drug Administration
approved a test made by 23andMe, the Mountain View, Calif.-based personal
genetics company, for a gene that can cause a rare disorder called Bloom
Syndrome, which causes short stature and a heightened risk of cancer.Ó
ÒThis
is news not because a new carrier test is important, but because the FDA seems
to be using this test as a way to start to think out its plans for regulating
new types of genetic tests that are emerging from the revolution in DNA
sequencing.Ó
The
FDA is not going back on its 2013 decision to stop allowing 23andMe to sell its
personal genetics tests directly to consumers. (See the
article in the GF Bulletin, vol. 15, no. 13, Nov. 26, 2013, titled Ò23andMe
Has Problems With the FDAÓ.)
More
excitingly, the FDA has told 23andMe that it intends to re-classify carrier
screening tests so that bringing a new one to market doesnÕt require going
through the entire review process — or any review process at all.
The
reason the 23andMe approval is exciting is that it represents a baby step into this
world. It doesnÕt put 23andMe back into the business of selling consumers lots
of genetic tests (it will take time even for the company to launch a test that
does carrier screening) but it makes it easier to imagine a world where the FDA
intelligently regulates genetic data."
An
additional discussion of the FDA approval is in an
article by the Michael H. Cohen Law Group, which provides legal strategy
for health and wellness businesses.
MORE EVIDENCE
OF CHANGES AT 23ANDME
On
April 27, I received the following notice from 23andMe:
ÒA
few months ago we let you know that we are working with MyHeritage to provide
you with a new, comprehensive family tree tool.
As
part of this integration with MyHeritage, we want to remind you that you will
no longer be able to edit your 23andMe family tree after May 1, 2015.
Since
you have not transferred your 23andMe family tree over to MyHeritage, this
deadline may be important to you. While you will still be able to see your
information, and it will continue to be stored on 23andMe, you will not be able
to modify your family tree on our website.
We
hope you will join the tens of thousands of other 23andMe customers who have
already set up their family tree on MyHeritage, and move your family tree to
their website at no cost to you -- it's free.* By setting up your family tree
on MyHeritage, you can combine the information from your 23andMe results --
like your DNA relatives and your countries of ancestry -- with MyHeritage's
historical records and matching tools to build a more complete family tree.Ó
* Building or importing a family tree to the
MyHeritage website or mobile app is free. You can use the MyHeritage website to
upload family photos to your tree, view Smart Matchesª from other peoplesÕ
trees and find Record Matches from free historical records. Editing your online
tree on MyHeritage is free up to 250 nodes (thatÕs up to 250 ancestors or
relatives on your tree).
MyHeritage has extended an exclusive free offer to
23andMe customers to build a tree with unlimited nodes for 6 months (starting
from the time you connect to MyHeritage from 23andMe to start a new family tree
or authorize transfer of your 23andMe family tree data to MyHeritage). After
the 6 month period, users will either need to sign up for one of the MyHeritage
paid subscription plans or continue with free access and a smaller tree
(<250 nodes). Paid subscriptions provide access to all historical records,
confirming or rejecting matches, contacting other MyHeritage members and
growing your tree beyond 250 nodes. This offer is non-transferable and subject
to change without notice.
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UPDATES TO THE GFA WEBSITE
REVISED GENEALOGIES
The
following genealogies have been revised.
Some of the revisions may be minor and others are major.
¥
22, James Graves and Melvina ------ of Caswell Co., NC
¥
77, John Graves and Margery Harvey of Randolph Co., NC
¥
108, Wilson Graves and Melvina ------ of Caswell Co., NC
¥
294, Madison Graves and Sylvia ------ of Caswell Co., NC
¥
307, Isaac Washington and Elmira Russell of Caswell Co., NC (parents of
Monjett Graves)
¥
658, Parents of John Graves and Samuel Graves of Caswell Co., NC
OTHER REVISIONS
¥
The Famous/Notable Family Members page now includes Mickey Rooney,
descended from genealogy 270. He
was mentioned in the GF Bulletin, vol. 16, no. 4, April 22, 2014, but never
added to the website.
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COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS IN GENEALOGY AND AMERICAN
CULTURE
There
are many myths that people believe to be true but are not. Some common ones relating to genealogy
are discussed below. A listing of
some myths can be found in an article
on genealogy.com. Although these
myths are common to the United States, the general principles are probably
similar around the world. Just
because an idea seems to make sense and comforts us does not mean it is
necessarily true. Of course,
sometimes these stories are true, but itÕs best to be suspicious and
investigate before believing.
THREE BROTHERS
CAME TO AMERICA
This
has been discussed in previous bulletins.
A typical version of the story is that three brothers came to
America. One settled in
Massachusetts, one went south to the Carolinas, and one went west, never to be
heard from again. Stories like
this are usually incorrect attempts by someone to explain why his or her family
name is found many places. There
is also the tendency to believe that if there is some evidence that an
assumption is true, and there is no knowledge of evidence proving the
assumption false, then it is true.
A
version of this myth is the belief by many people that all Graves family
descendants in or from Virginia were descended from Capt. Thomas Graves
(genealogy 169) who arrived in Jamestown in 1608. It was not until a few years ago with the use of DNA testing
that we found this wasnÕt even close to being true.
OUR FAMILY
NAME WAS CHANGED AT ELLIS ISLAND
An
article in the issue of EastmanÕs Online Genealogy Newsletter discussed
research by Kenneth A. Bravo on obituaries in the New York Times claiming that
the family name was changed during the immigration process at Ellis
Island. A podcast of an interview
of Kenneth Bravo by Bernice Bennett is here. This myth has been debunked many times
before, but it still persists.
Searching for something like Òmyth of name change at Ellis islandÓ will
give much explanation, including an article on genealogy.com,
and another article from Smithsonian
Magazine, which states:
ÒNo
names were changed at Ellis Island because no names were taken at Ellis
Island.Ó Instead, inspectors only checked the people passing through the island
against the records of the ship on which they were said to arrive. If the name
was misspelled, it was done so on the shipÕs manifest documents when a person
bought their ticket in Europe. (Some immigration clerks on Ellis Island even
helped correct these mistakes.) Regardless, these spellings didnÕt typically
follow people to their new lives in America.
The
real culprits of migration-related name changes are likely to be the immigrants
themselves, says Philip Sutton at the New York Public Library. Faced with the
task of adapting to a new country and culture, many chose on their own to alter
their surname. In other cases, immigrants used nicknames given to them by their
new neighbors or friends when filling out applications for naturalization.Ó
IMMIGRANTS
USED TO SUCCEED BY HARD WORK
A
recent article on the Ancestry blog is called ÒDebunking
the American Dream: Immigrants Did Better in 1900 Than in 2000.Ó University research casts doubt on this
myth. Another article about this
is on Vox.com. It appears that in the early part of
the 20th century, immigrants often worked in higher-paying jobs than
natives. Although there are always many exceptions, perhaps on average this is
another example of the next myth on assimilation – that families tend to
stay in similar social and financial situations throughout multiple
generations.
IMMIGRANTS ARE
QUICKLY ASSIMILATED INTO AMERICAN CULTURE
This
is the idea of America as a great Òmelting potÓ where, after a couple of
generations, everyone is pretty much the same. An article titled ÒSurnames and Social MobilityÓ in the Dec. 2014 GF Bulletin discussed
the lack of social mobility in England.
Many people may not be surprised about low social mobility in England,
but it is Òcommon knowledgeÓ that America is the Òland of opportunityÓ where
the ÒHoratio Alger dreamÓ can be realized. An article titled ÒMore Maps of the American NationsÓ in the
July 2014 GF Bulletin
disputes this, citing an
article from JayManÕs Blog, which states Òassimilation largely does not
occurÓ.
CHEROKEE
INDIAN PRINCESS
This
subject and the more general subject of Native American ancestry is not as
simple as most of us probably think it is. An interesting 2012 article on boston.com
discusses this, explaining that Native American ancestry cannot necessarily be
determined by DNA testing, and tribal membership and ancestry as shown by DNA
testing are two different things.
There is also an interesting
article written by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., in which he explains ÒWhy most
black people arenÕt part Indian, despite family lore.Ó
In
spite of the facts that Native American tribes didnÕt have kings and
princesses, and that many stories about a familyÕs Native American ancestry arenÕt
true, some of the stories undoubtedly are true. One source of more information is the many articles written
by Roberta Estes on her DNAeXplained blog. You can see a list of articles she has written on the subject
of Native American ancestry here,
or do your own search on her blog.
===============================================================
MORE ABOUT USING WIKIPEDIA AS AN INFORMATION SOURCE
In
the GF Bulletin for Jan. 29, 2015, there was an article about the reasons for
and the risks of using Wikipedia for information. Another blog article on that subject, titled ÒWhy Not Wikipedia?Ó,
was published by MocavoÕs Michael Leclerc on May 2. He writes that although ÒWikipedia has become a replacement
for the encyclopedias we used growing upÓ, Òthere is no control over who says
what on Wikipedia.Ó
There is no way to tell how accurate the information is in any given
article.
His
conclusion is: ÒThere is nothing wrong with using Wikipedia as a starting
point. But it should never be used
as the sole source of information.
It should be used to point you in the right direction to find credible,
reliable, and authoritative information.Ó
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ROOTS REVEALED
BLOG FOR HELP WITH AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESEARCH
I
was not previously aware of a blog called ÒRoots RevealedÓ, written by Melvin
J. Collier. He has been blogging
since at least 2012. His most
recent article is called ÒFour Generations of Enslaved Ancestors Held By One
Trust.Ó This is an addition to the
research aids that have been mentioned in previous articles.
His
tips for African-American
research (most of which also apply generally to other genealogical
research) include the following:
¥
Talk to your kinfolk.
¥
Gather records you and your family may already have.
¥
Read books about African-American research.
¥
Research, study, and analyze federal census records.
¥
Search for other important documents.
¥
For enslaved ancestors, find the name of the slave owner(s).
===============================================================
JIMMY GREAVES,
ENGLISH FOOTBALL IDOL, SUFFERS STROKE
Jimmy
Greaves, one of the greatest English football (soccer) players of all time, is
recovering from a serious stroke.
He is mentioned in the sidebar on the main page of the GFA website, and
is also included on the Notable Family Members page of the website. The 75-year-old suffered a stroke on Sunday,
May 3. It was announced on May 7
that he was out of intensive care and able to sit up in bed. There have been multiple stories about
his illness, including one here.
Another
story in the Mirror on 9 May is titled ÒJimmy
Greaves: 50,000 fans send get well messages for stroke victim star.Ó It also contains a gallery of pictures
of him.
He
married Irene ‑‑‑‑‑‑ in 1958. According to Wikipedia, they had 5
children, 4 of whom are still living. I included a discussion of my attempts to find his Greaves
ancestry in the GF Bulletin, vol. 16, no. 4, April 22, 2014. It appears that he is descended from
genealogy 159 for John Greaves (born about 1814) and Mary Wood of Middlesex,
England. Can anyone help find more
information?
===============================================================
GRAVES/GREAVES
FAMILY MEMBERS WITH NATIVE AMERICAN ANCESTRY
E.
John Reinhold recently commented on the GFA Facebook page: ÒAfter years of
tracking rumors through cousins that my 3 times great-grandfather, Seth Graves,
son of Bela Graves, had a mother-in-law, the mother of Jane ÒJennieÓ George
Graves, who was from the tribe of Delawares at Somerset, Pennsylvania, this has
been shown in several DNA results of my generation as 2 percent Native
American.Ó
That
ancestor of JohnÕs was Elizabeth VanCampin, born 1779 in Somerset, PA, died
1805 in Austinburg, Tioga Co., PA, and married Bedford George. Seth Graves is in genealogy 166 (John
Graves of Concord, MA). My
calculations for 1 full-blooded Native American ancestor 6 generations back
show that John and others of his generation should have inherited 1.56% NA
ancestry, so 2% is pretty close to that.
Do
any other Graves descendants have or know of Native American ancestry that has
been supported by DNA testing? In
addition to the autosomal DNA testing that John is referring to, Native
American ancestry can also be shown by Y-DNA testing (for an all-male ancestral
lineage) and by mitochondrial DNA testing (for an all-female ancestral lineage),
although fewer people have these kinds of lineages.
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ABOUT
THIS BULLETIN:
This bulletin is written and edited by Kenneth V.
Graves, ken.graves@gravesfa.org.
TO SUBMIT
MATERIAL TO THIS BULLETIN:
Send
any material you would like to have included in this bulletin to
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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 to gfa@gravesfa.org via PayPal.
COPYRIGHTS:
Although
the contents of this bulletin are copyrighted by the Graves Family Association
and Kenneth V. Graves, you are hereby granted permission, unless otherwise
specified, to re-distribute part or all to other parties for non-commercial
purposes only.