Graves Family Bulletin, Vol. 19, No. 8

GRAVES FAMILY BULLETIN

Vol. 19, No. 8, November 16, 2017

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

===============================================================

Information on 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. If you received it from a friend and want to subscribe, send an email message with your full name to ken.graves@gravesfa.org.

Click on these links to visit the GFA website and our Facebook page.

===============================================================

CONTENTS

** General Comments

** Family Tree DNA Holiday Sale

** How to Save More Money on Tests and What Tests to Order

** Interesting Graves Project in Essex, England

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

===============================================================

GENERAL COMMENTS

This is the first bulletin that has been published since Aug. 31, so if you have been concerned that you haven’t been receiving them, don’t be. I have just been too busy with other things.

The most exciting news in this issue is the year-end DNA Holiday Sale from Family Tree DNA. We are making great progress with finding the ancestry and connections of the various families, but we need many more of you to do more testing. I encourage all of you to take a Big Y test or a recommended SNP Pack, or to help fund one for someone else in your part of the family.

This past weekend, Nov. 10-12, I was fortunate to be able to attend the 13th International Genetic Genealogy Conference in Houston, Texas, sponsored by Family Tree DNA. In the next issue of the bulletin I will be reporting on some of the very interesting information discussed and presented there, and the big impact on the Graves/Greaves family genealogy studies. One very encouraging result is that our next generation testing of SNPs and Big Y is finally yielding results within the recent genealogical time period. Stay tuned!

===============================================================

FAMILY TREE DNA HOLIDAY SALE

SALE PRICES

The Family Finder DNA Holiday Sale started this past Sunday, Nov. 12, and ends at midnight Central Standard Time, Dec. 31, 2017. The following individual tests, bundles, and upgrades will be on sale.

Individual Tests

Test	Sale Price	Regular Price
Family Finder	$59	$89
mtFull Sequence	$169	$199
Y-37	$129	$169
Y-67	$229	$268
Y-111	$299	$359

Bundles

Bundle	Sale Price	Regular Price
Family Finder + Y-37	$178	$238
Family Finder + Y-67	$278	$337
FF + mtFull Sequence	$218	$268
FF + Y-67 + mtFull Sequence	$442	$536

Upgrades

Upgrade	Sale Price	Regular Price
Mt/mtPlus to FMS	$119	$159
Big Y	$475	$575
Y-12 to Y-37	$69	$109
Y-25 to Y-37	$35	$59
Y-37 to Y-67	$79	$109
Y-37 to Y-111	$168	$228
Y-67 to Y-111	$99	$129

SNPs and SNP Packs will also be 15% off during the Holiday Sale.

EXTRA SPECIAL DEAL FOR Y-DNA AND BIG Y

Roberta Estes posted in her DNAeXplained blog that the holiday sale has the best deal EVER on the Big Y test that includes a FREE STR upgrade.

During the holiday sale which started last weekend, any customer who purchases the Big Y will receive a free upgrade to Y-111 from any level STR test. You MUST currently have a Y-DNA test either ordered or completed in the system.

This means that if you don’t currently have a Y-DNA test, and you’re a male (or have a male you want to test,) you can place a Y-DNA test for any level and then go in and order a Big Y test, using any coupons. In other words, if you don’t already have a Y-DNA test, you can order a Y-37 test for $129 and then order a Big Y test for $475, and you will be upgraded to Y-111 at no additional cost. This deal is in ADDITION to any coupons you may have. You may have to wait a bit to order the Big Y until your regular Y-DNA test order is registered in the system.

You’ll get a coupon discount on both orders (regular test and Big Y), and you’ll receive the Big Y AND a free upgrade to 111 that you automatically receive when purchasing a Big Y.

===============================================================

HOW TO SAVE MORE MONEY ON TESTS AND WHAT TESTS TO ORDER

HOW TO SAVE MORE MONEY ON TESTS

In addition to the special prices on DNA tests in the FTDNA Holiday Sale, there are other ways to reduce the cost of testing.

· Use the weekly coupons posted on your FTDNA page or provided to you by me or others.

· Ask your family members and others descended from the same Graves/Greaves ancestor to share the cost.

· Ask the Graves Family Association to pay for part of the cost. Contact Ken Graves about that.

COUPONS

FTDNA is also giving away coupons (called Holiday Rewards) for their most popular DNA tests. New coupons will be posted every Monday. If you are a FTDNA customer, go to your personal page and click on the link at the top of your page. They are also allowing all their customers to share those coupons with anyone else by just entering your name and the recipient’s email address. The coupons are only good for 7 days, so check your personal page on FTDNA and either use the coupon or offer to share it with someone else. We will try to publish a list of coupons on the Graves Family Association Facebook page also. Check your Holiday Rewards to see what you have.

Coupons I presently have that you are welcome to use (all expiring on 11/19) are listed below. The first column is the promotion code.

R230IOMPL4KE $25 off Big Y

R23TOW5QS7PV $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111

R2386SSGGXY3 $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111

R234DANU9OXB $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111

R23VMQZPKHX7 $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111

R23T8R5RL90S $5 off Family Finder

R23T5M4DGDM0 $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111

R237TXN0UIK2 $20 off Y-DNA67

R23JECA6BJX3 $10 off mtDNA Plus or mtFull

R237Y9SBD3R1 $5 off Family Finder

R23GAIETQNC4 $5 off Family Finder

R23HN64JU4AY $25 off Big Y

R23DUAOGPBPA $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111

R23YAO0ZKMU0 $25 off Big Y

R23FEZ37GN7Z $5 off Family Finder

R231W4TCXLLH $10 off mtDNA Plus or mtFull

R23QNDSFISC7 $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111

R239RIID5XJR $20 off Y-DNA67

R237S23VQC1I $20 off Y37, Y67, or Y111

WHAT TESTS TO ORDER

If you have only taken a Y-DNA12 or Y-DNA25 test, it would be helpful to upgrade that to at least a 37-marker test, and preferably to a 111-marker test.

At least one person (and usually more than one for a genealogy with more testers) should take the Big Y test. Also, if you are Ungrouped, you should probably take a Big Y test to find your connections. If you can’t afford the Big Y test and you can’t get anyone else to share the cost with you, you can test with a recommended SNP Pack. In general, only test with SNP Packs if you don’t plan to take a next-generation test (such as Big Y); otherwise you will pay for testing some of the same SNPs twice. To get help and a recommendation on which SNP Pack or other test to order, be sure to join the appropriate haplogroup project. To see which SNP Packs are available and to order the one you want, either go to your personal page on FTDNA, and click on the “Haplotree & SNPs” link in the Y-DNA section, or click on Upgrade at the top right of the page, scroll down to “Advanced Tests” and click on “Buy Now”, click on the box next to Test Type and select SNP Pack, click on Find, and then click on Add next to the SNP Pack you want. You should usually select the Pack that is farthest down the SNP tree but still within the part of the tree you are confident you belong to. To see the structure of the tree, look at the tree on your FTDNA page or one of those on the GFA website at the bottom of the Y-DNA page.

If you take the Big Y test, encourage your close matches to take the test also. The more men who take this advanced test, the farther down the tree toward the present we will be able to go.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES TO YOU AND OTHERS OF TAKING TESTS LIKE BIG Y?

• Finding where your Graves/Greaves ancestor lived at a particular time in the past, possibly allowing tracking of their migration and dispersion paths. This comes partly via some descendants knowing where their ancestors lived.

• Discovering about when the surname first began to be used for your particular line.

• Finding how your Graves/Greaves family is related to other Graves/Greaves families.

• Finding how your family connects with other families that share a common Graves/Greaves ancestor.

• Finding SNPs belonging to specific branches or even to people within branches of large families, allowing confirmation of lineages and proper placement of previously unplaced segments of families.

• Much better identification and placement of people of unknown ancestry, such as adoptees.

===============================================================

INTERESTING GRAVES PROJECT IN ESSEX, ENGLAND

The following news article about Brian Graves was published in the Essex County Standard on 22 Sept. 2017.

===============================================================

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 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 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.