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. 5, No. 1, Jan. 22, 2002

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

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CONTENTS:

**John Graves of Concord Book

**DNA Analysis Project

**Next Steps in the DNA Study

**Financial Help Still Needed for DNA Project

**Website Enhancements

**To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

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JOHN GRAVES OF CONCORD, MA BOOK

As mentioned in the bulletin of mid-December, the manuscript for the John Graves of Concord, MA book is now at the printer. The date they have given me for completion is late February, but I figure early March is more likely (by the time they ship the books to me and I get them sent out to those of you who have ordered them). Extra books are being printed, so copies can still be ordered at $75, which includes shipping. The book is in two volumes, slightly over 1700 total pages, with many pictures, and a complete name and place index.

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DNA ANALYSIS PROJECT

We have received more test results from our testing lab, Family Tree DNA. A total of 71 samples have now been analyzed and the results posted on the website.

To look at the results summary and the preliminary conclusions, you can go to the website at https://gravesfa.org and click on the DNA link at the top of the page. Or you can go directly to that specific page at https://gravesfa.org/DNA_test_results.html.

A summary of the most important preliminary conclusions:

** The families of John Graves of Concord, MA, Rear Adm. Thomas Graves of Charlestown, MA, John Greaves of St. Mary’s Co., MA, the most of the families of Randolph Co., NC & Blount Co., AL, and others are all related. This does not necessarily mean that they are descended from each other, but only that they have a common ancestor. The 9-marker supplemental test will probably give us a much better idea of the exact relationships between these families.

** The descendants of Capt. Thomas Graves of VA seem to fall into 2 separate groups. One is part of the group mentioned above, that includes John Graves of Concord. The other is related to John Graves of Frederick Co., VA. Although we don’t yet know for sure, it seems unlikely that both these groups of descendants are really descended from Capt. Thomas Graves. As we get more participants from the Capt. Thomas Graves family and from other related families, and as we get all 21 markers analyzed, we should get the answer to this surprising result. It is my suspicion that the southern families in the large group that includes John Graves of Concord may be related to each other in America but may not be related to the northern families there; the common ancestry may be back in England.

** Humphrey Isaac Greaves of NC, Thomas Graves of NC & Maury Co., TN, and Thomas Graves of OH & DE are all related, and may all be descended from the Quaker family of Thomas Graves of New Castle Co., DE.

** The first group of Capt. Thomas Graves descendants, related to John Graves of Frederick Co., VA, are also related to a Graves family of Lancashire, England, and to Thomas Graves of Cambridgeshire, England.

** It appears (with too few samples) that Deacon George Graves of Hartford, CT is closely related to Thomas Graves of Hartford, CT (not to John Graves of Concord, MA as was once conjectured).

** The Greaves family of Macclesfield, Cheshire, England (believed to descend from the Greaves family of Beeley, Derbyshire) is closely related to Rear Adm. Thomas Graves of Charlestown, MA and the Greaves family of Stepney, London, England.

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NEXT STEPS IN THE DNA STUDY

As mentioned in December, Family Tree DNA has now increased the number of Y-DNA markers they can test for from 12 to 21. This means that it will now be possible to distinguish between samples that match on 12 of 12 (or even 11 of 12) markers, and more precisely determine the most recent common ancestor. Because the University of Arizona (that does the testing for Family Tree DNA) preserves DNA samples, there is no need to resubmit an already-submitted sample to get the additional 9 markers tested. There is an additional cost of $49. This test will probably be of value to almost everyone in the DNA Study. As with the previous testing, if you want to add the supplemental test, please let me know and send me a check for $49 payable to Kenneth V. Graves. New participants don’t need to pay until you return your samples.

If you have not yet returned your DNA samples, PLEASE do so as soon as possible.

Other families still need to be included in the study. There is a list of families participating in the DNA study on the GFA website. There is also a list of some of the families that we would like to see added to the list. Even if you can’t participate yourself (for instance, because you are a female or not descended through an all-male line), we still need your help. Maybe you can help sponsor or encourage a male descendant. Remember, because of the requirements of the Y-DNA test, participants must be males with the Graves/Greaves/etc. surname. Cost for the basic test is $199 and the supplemental test is $49 (for a total of $248 if you get both). Don’t let the cost keep you from participating (some or all of the cost may be paid for you). Families needed include:

**Graves Family of Yorkshire and Mickleton Manor, Gloucestershire, England (68)

**Greaves Family of Beeley, Derbyshire, England (228)

**George Graves of Plaistow, England (64)

**Other families of the British Isles, especially including families of Grieve, Grieves, Greve, and other spellings

**Graves families of Netherlands, France and elsewhere

**John Graves (Johann Sebastian Graff) of PA, NC & TN (105)

**Joseph Graves and Rachel Pratt of Framingham, MA (133)

**Richard Graves and Polly Lucy of SC & AR (189)

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FINANCIAL HELP STILL NEEDED FOR DNA PROJECT

My thanks again to those of you who have sponsored a family member or contributed money in support of the DNA testing of other family members. I have continued to make up the difference out of my own pocket, but it is becoming more and more difficult. All contributions for this purpose will be much appreciated. It will probably be even more difficult to expect many of the participants from outside the U.S. to contribute the full cost, and getting those family members to be part of the study is very important to our success.

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WEBSITE ENHANCEMENTS

There are plans for several enhancements and additions to the Graves Family Association website. These include:

(1) online payment capabilities, probably using PayPal,

(2) a members-only section (not sure what it should include yet,

(3) the ability to read current and previous issues of the Graves Family Newsletter,

(4) an overall index for the newsletter,

(5) the ability to search all online newsletters and genealogies for a particular name or any other word or phrase,

(6) one-name data such as vital records, census data, etc.,

(7) other items such as pictures of Graves villages, houses, and family members,

(8) implementation of special interest pages, especially for African American and Native American ancestry. We had volunteers for these pages. What happened to them?

I would appreciate any comments and suggestions you have on these or any other possible additions. If you would like to volunteer for any of these items, the procedure would be for you to gather/create the content, send it to me, and I will put it on the site. I have no specific timetable for most of these enhancements. They will be added as time permits and needs dictate.

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ABOUT THIS BULLETIN:

This bulletin is written and edited by Kenneth V. Graves, ken.graves@gravesfa.org. Ken Graves is also editor of the Graves Family Newsletter, the official publication of the Graves Family Association. 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 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 (for U.S. & Canada) or $30 per year (for all other countries) to Graves Family Association, 20 Binney Circle, Wrentham, MA 02093 (more details on GFA website). Note that membership is for a calendar year so if you join late in the year be sure to specify which year dues are for. Benefits include 6 issues of the newsletter, 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.